Persona 3: FOX
by Ryu Kotei
Summary: After barely escaping his execution thanks to Kyuubi, Naruto discovers that his mother had a sister who left the Elemental Nations. Now as a member of SEES, Naruto now has to help save Iwatodai from the horrors of the Dark Hour. NarutoxFuuka. M for language, blood, violence, and certain scenes.
1. Prologue

**Ryu Kotei here bringing you a new Naruto crossover and since so many of you had loved Mask of the Fox, I decided to bring you a NarutoXPersona 3 crossover, Persona 3: FOX (Unimpressive, I know). Now this one will take place in Persona 3 (Original, FES, and PSP versions) so you will not see anyone from Persona 4 unless I give them a small cameo. Anyway, I hope this turns out as good as Mask of the Fox!**

**On a final note, I do not own Naruto or the Persona Series.**

"Persona!" normal speech

_"Persona!"_ thought/mind speak

**"Persona!"** demon speech

Prologue

***Konohagakure***

Naruto couldn't believe it. He, along with some friends, had gone out to stop Sasuke Uchiha from reaching Otogakure and Orochimaru and the mission was a success. Everything was supposed to be great, but apparently the Council thought otherwise as he was tied to post with his chakra sealed about to be executed for not only hurting the Uchiha, but using the Kyuubi's chakra. None of his friends couldn't even defend him as they were on missions save for the other members of the retrieval team as they were at the hospital.

_Fuck my life,_ Naruto thought bitterly as his executioner walked up to him.

"Any last words, Kyuubi?" asked the executioner as he actually wanted to relish in the final moments of the demon.

Naruto looked out to the crowd with a fierce glare and roared, "FUCK YOU SUSUKE UCHIHA, FUCK THAT LAZY NARA FOR NOT HELPING ME, AND FUCK THE LOT OF YOU FOR BEING BLIND IDIOTS!"

Having enough, the executioner destroyed Naruto's jacket and shirt that exposed the markings on his stomach and prepared to kill the blond before him.

The executioner was about to end Naruto's life until the markings on the blonde's stomach began to glow red.

**"****Fools!"** cried a bellowing voice as red chakra leaked from the markings and formed a giant red fox.

"It's the Kyuubi!" cried a civilian as everyone present backed away, "He's summoning the Kyuubi!"

The fox glared at the frightened crowd and said, **"You mortals have no understanding of the very sealing arts that have bounded me to this brat and you dare kill him for needing to use my power when your 'prized' Uchiha summoned the power given to him by the snake who had betrayed your village years ago! Even if you had killed the brat, I, the great Kyuubi no Yoko, would have been released from his carcass which would allow me to wreak havoc upon your pathetic lives because of the Uchiha who controlled me!"**

** "****I shall take the boy away from this wretched place, away from the blind and unjust hate that you all have brought upon him!"** roared the Kyuubi as it flashed through hand seals at an ungodly speed, **"Ancient Art: Bond of Blood!"**

Before anyone could blink, Naruto vanished in a blinding red light and the light soon dimmed to reveal a barren post and a stunned executioner.

"What the Hell happened and HOW DID THE KYUUBI BREAK FREE FROM ITS SEAL!?" roared a mighty voice to reveal Tsunade and the Fire Daimyo, both with a look of anger on their faces. Everyone present were now hoping that the Kyuubi was here to end their lives to save them from what was going to happen to them.

***Naruto's Mindscape***

Naruto slowly woke up to find himself in his mind with the fox looking at him.

"What happened?" Naruto asked as he came to his senses.

**"****I have kept you from being killed for ridiculous reasons."** said the Kyuubi, **"Even though I do want out of here, I am not going to be let out because of fucking idiots who have zero idea about the difference between a sword and the sheathe that houses the blade."**

"So what's happening now?" asked Naruto glad that he was alive, ironically by the demon that has caused him grief.

**"****I used an ancient jutsu that will take you to your closest relative by blood,"** said the fox, **"Apparently your mother and my previous jailor, Kushina Uzumaki, had a sister that had actually left the Elemental Nations. She is unfortunately dead, but her daughter is very much alive."**

Both Naruto and the Kyuubi felt the jutsu releasing them as an image of a beach appeared.

"This is going to hurt." said Naruto before he turned to the giant fox, "By the way, what's your name?"

The fox raised an eyebrow at the sudden question, but decided to tell the boy its name.

**"****It surprises me that no one asked me for my name before."** said the fox as it some gave Naruto a gentle smile, **"The mortals who had served as my prisons had called me Kyuubi…but since you are the first to actually ask, my given name is Kurama."**

Naruto's shock was short lived as his vision went completely dark.

***?***

Naruto slowly awoke as he felt like that train from Yuki had actually hit him and his head was violently ringing.

"…he's awake! Go get…jo-san!" said a voice as Naruto shook his head to see maids and a girl with red hair looking at him.

"Are you alright?" asked the girl who looked about a year older that Naruto, "You crashed violently into the beach a week ago and everyone here was shocked to see that you survived such a violent crash."

Naruto looked at the girl carefully and saw that her skin was flawless and her hair was a beautiful rose red.

"You…You look really pretty," said Naruto as a small blush formed on his face, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. What's your name?"

The girl blinked in surprise and said, "My name, Naruto, is Mitsuru Kirijo and I am the daughter of Quina Uzumaki and Takeharu Kirijo."

_She's my cousin?_ Naruto thought before he remembered what he had just said to her, _That just made that first thing I said reaaaallllly awkward._

That was when a man in a grey suit and an eye patch arrived next to the bed Naruto was in.

"Did you say that your name was Uzumaki?" asked the man with slight curiosity in his voice, "Was your mother Kushina Uzumaki, by any chance?"

Naruto remembered that Kurama had said that Kushina Uzumaki was his mother with the fox reminding him from inside his mind.

"Yes she was," said Naruto, "although I never knew her as I was an orphan."

The man then sighed as a smile formed on his lips.

"Well then, Naruto," said the man as he placed a hand on Mitsuru's shoulder, "as your uncle, I, Takeharu Kirijo, would like to welcome you into our family, the Kirijo Group."

**Well this is interesting. Our favorite blond knucklehead is related to Persona 3's Ice Queen, Mitsuru Kirijo. How will Naruto's life be laid out before him and what awaits him in the future? Don't forget to rate and review!**

**Ja ne.**


	2. Chapter 1

**I will go ahead a reveal that Naruto will keep his name, but his last name will be Namikaze. Another thing is that I'm giving Naruto three Personas, but that does NOT mean I'm giving him the Wild Card ability that Minato and Kotone (Fem. Protagonist) will possess. Naruto's preferred weapon will be the two-handed swords (mostly katanas) and he will be in the Kendo Club which will be explained in a later chapter. I'm also going to do a transition between regular time and the Dark Hour as SEES are active in both times.**

**On a final note, I do not own Naruto or the Persona Series.**

"Persona!" normal speech

_"Persona!"_ thought/mind speak

**"Persona!"** demon/Persona speech

Chapter I

***Tatsumi Port Island: Dormitory***

Naruto Namikaze was sitting at his desk, writing in his book as a means to pass time until the new kids arrive.

It has been three years since Naruto was adopted into the Kirijo Group and he couldn't be any happier living with his uncle and cousin. A lot has changed for Naruto over the past three years as he witnessed the Dark Hour, obtaining his three Personas, Titan of the Strength, Jinn of the Star, and Phoenix of the Sun, which had shocked everyone, and fighting the Shadows. The blond had also grown out his hair into a mullet and changed his surname to Namikaze thanks to the help of his uncle with the legal forms.

The blond's reason for changing his last name to Namikaze was that it somehow sounded right to him and he had seen pictures of the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, sometime before the Chunin Exams Finals.

When Naruto had first awakened his Persona with the Evoker, the results were surprising when a small red fox that Naruto had named Kichi appeared next to the blond. After explaining the history from being in the Elemental Nations, everyone in the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, or SEES, accepted both Naruto and Kichi as one of them. No one knew why Naruto had three Personas or how a small fox appeared when Naruto summoned his Personas for the first time. Even after explaining his past, Naruto didn't even understand just HOW or even WHY he possesses three Personas.

_I'm glad none of those scientists are around to look at me like I'm some future experiment,_ the blonde happily thought as he suppressed a shiver at the creepy looks he got from a few of them.

Even though only Mitsuru and Takeharu knew of Naruto being a jinchuriki, no one really knew the truth about Kichi.

"What's keeping the new kids?" asked a red fox before Naruto kneeled to pet it, "I read that file on them and they were supposed to be here before it happens."

Naruto let out a sigh as Kichi continued to complain as he was the only one who can understand her.

"I'm sure they'll arrive, Kichi," said Naruto as he looked at his clock to see it read 11: 45 p.m., "They got fifteen minutes before it happens." Kichi huffed and began pace around impatiently in the room as Naruto shook his head at the fox's impatience.

_I swear that both Kichi and Mitsuru are actually sisters,_ Naruto thought as he decided to go to close his book before he checked on his equipment and work on a bit of studying.

11:59.57

11:59.58

11:59.59

12:00.00

**[Dark Hour]**

***** **Tatsumi Port Island: Dormitory***

Naruto had finish looking over some school work when everything around him turned green and his laptop and clock suddenly shut off.

"The Dark Hour," said Naruto as he pulled out a suitcase and opened it to reveal a small red sash and a small silver gun, both with the initials 'SEES' on them.

"I shouldn't need my sword," said Naruto as he wrapped the sash around his arm and placed the gun in the holster, "but I'm still taking the Evoker just in case."

Naruto exited his room to see Mitsuru at the stairs.

"Going to see if the new kids made it, Cuz?" asked Naruto as he followed Mitsuru down the stairs.

Both cousins soon stepped off the last step to see a boy with blue hair with ear phones hanging around his neck and a girl with a barrette in the form of 'XXII' in her auburn hair. In front of the two was a girl with brown hair wearing a pink cardigan with her Evoker drawn.

"Takeba," said Mitsuru as the girl in pink saw her and eased up. It was silent until the lights were back on and music was blaring from the boy's ear phones, signaling the end of the Dark Hour.

**[End Dark Hour]**

"Hope the two of you made it to the dormitory alright," said Naruto as he looked at the two before him, "Minato Arisato and Kotone Shione, am I correct?"

Both teens nodded until the girl looked and saw Kichi walking toward Naruto.

"Oooh, what a cute wittle fox!" cried Kotone as she dashed towards the fox and picked her up into a hug, "She is so adorable! Is she yours?"

Naruto saw the slight agitation on Kichi's face and said, "Yeah, she's mine but you better put her down. Kichi can be pretty testy when it comes to new people."

Kotone set Kichi down as the fox ran towards Naruto and groomed herself.

"I imagine that the both of you had quite the trip," said Mitsuru as she looked at Naruto and the girl in pink, "Takeba, Namikaze, could you please show them to their rooms?"

Both teens nodded as Naruto turned to the girl and said, "I'll show Kotone to her room, you can show Minato to his, alright Yukari?"

Naruto then motioned towards Kotone to follow him and Kichi up the stairs. After climbing to the third floor, Naruto walked Kotone to the end of the hall and pointed to the door on the left wall near the window.

"This here's your room, a floor above mine," said Naruto as he handed Kotone a key, "Keep a real good hold to your key to avoid future embarrassments."

"Hey Naruto-kun," said Kotone as she pointed to the Evoker at Naruto's side, "what's with the gun?"

Naruto chuckled a bit and said, "Just a little protection for the residents; they're fake, but they do offer that sense of security."

Kotone smiled and gave Naruto and Kichi a quick good night hug before entering her room.

"You think the two of them saw any of them?" asked Kichi as she and Naruto walked down to the second floor, passing Yukari on the way.

"I don't know, Kichi." said Naruto as he stole a glance at the fox, "They may have gotten lucky and avoided them. Then again, Mitsuru would have said something if her Persona caught wind of the Shadows, so who's to say?"

Naruto and Kichi had made it back inside Naruto's room and went to bed to get ready for school in the morning.

***Gekkoukan High School***

Naruto and Yukari had just arrived at the gates of the high school with Minato and Kotone following them.

"Well," said Naruto and Yukari as they faced the two, "Welcome to Gekkoukan High School."

The group walked inside as Naruto said, "I'll go ahead to my class; I'll catch up with you guys later."

Naruto walked up the stairs and saw a girl with light blue hair at the door to his classroom.

"Morning," said Naruto as he drew the girl's attention, "Name's Naruto Namikaze."

The girl bowed and said, "I'm Fuuka Yamagishi, you don't happened to be in 2-E, do you?"

Naruto nodded and couldn't help but note how cute Fuuka was as the two entered their classroom and took their seats.

Hours had passed and Naruto and Fuuka were walking out the school entrance as the school day had ended.

"What's that?" the blue-haired girl asked as there was a limousine at the school gates with a man in a black suit near it.

"Greetings Namikaze-san," said the man, making Naruto shake his head.

"How many times do I have to tell you guys that you don't have to address me like that because of my cousin," the blonde said.

Mitsuru soon arrived as the man then asked, "Would you like a ride to your dormitory with Kirijo-san?"

"Nah, I'm good." Naruto said as he gave Mitsuru a small wave, "See ya at the dorms Cuz."

_Did he just address Mitsuru-senpai as his cousin,_ Fuuka thought with surprise as said woman entered the limo before the driver got in and drove away,_ and so casually as well?_

***Iwatodai Station***

Naruto and Fuuka were walking through the area as something was bothering the young girl.

"So Namikaze-san," said Fuuka as she looked at Naruto, blushing at how the whisker-like marks hugged his face, "Is it true that you're related to Kirijo-senpai?"

The blonde nodded and said, "Naruto please and yes, Mitsuru's my cousin through my mother's side. She may be a bit cold, but she means well…hopefully."

_Oh my,_ Fuuka thought as she continued to stare at the blond before her, _he's very handsome and those marks just make him so roguish._

Naruto saw the blush on Fuuka's face and chuckled as the two of them stopped at a takoyaki stand.

"Want one?" Naruto asked before Fuuka shook her head negatively as he ordered some takoyaki. Naruto and Fuuka continued to talk as they passed by Minato and a boy with a goatee wearing a cap.

***Dorm***

The two had made it to the steps as Kichi stepped out to greet Naruto.

"Is that a fox?" asked Fuuka as Naruto kneeled down to pet the red fox.

"Yep," said Naruto, "her name's Kichi and she can be a bit testy with new people, but once she gets use to you, she treats ya like family."

Kichi walked up to Fuuka and sniffed her ankles before rubbing her head against them.

"Seems like she's already starting to like you," said Naruto as he stood back up, "Want me to walk you home?"

Fuuka smiled and said, "No thanks, I don't live too far from here actually. But thank you for your offer."

After Fuuka had left, Kichi looked at Naruto and said, "That girl's not bad Kit. She sort of reminds me of that Hyuuga girl, Hinata."

Naruto's face became hard as he remembered his hellish life in Konoha.

"I thought we agreed to not bring up my past, Kichi," said Naruto as he and the fox entered the dorm, "I'm through with Konoha and everything about it."

Kichi sighed as the thoughts of the Elemental Nations and Konoha were still plaguing her kit, even though Naruto won't admit it.

It wasn't exactly everyone that Naruto hated, just Sasuke Uchiha and Shikamaru Nara, but anything that reminded him of Konohagakure despite all the good friends he made. Naruto was just so close to death and whatever few friends of his that were there didn't even defend him with Sakura wallowing over Sasuke and Shikamaru staying at the hospital with only a broken finger as Choji was fighting death.

_He felt completely betrayed,_ Kichi thought as she remembered the time Naruto had actually threw away his headband after giving it a nasty gash on it, the ultimate sign of abandoning all loyalty to the village, _but he needs to let go of his anger towards anything related to Konohagakure as some of those people he developed a deep bond with do not deserve such a treatment._

_I am not to wallow in those memories,_ Naruto thought as he held back his anger, _I am no longer a Konoha shinobi…I am Naruto Namikaze. I had an opportunity to start anew and I'm taking it!_

Naruto saw the new students talking to Shuji Ikutsuki, the chairman and advisor of SEES, and saw their deadpanned looks after the man cracked off one of his lame jokes.

"That guy seriously needs to find better material," said Kichi until Kotone saw her and wrapped her into a hug.

"Hello, Naruto-kun and Kichi-chan!" said Kotone as she spun around with Kichi in her arms.

"How was your first day at Gekkoukan?" asked Naruto as he ignored Kichi's swearing.

"Eh…" said Minato with a calm demeanor as he shrugged his shoulders without a care, "wasn't too impressive."

Kotone lightly tossed Kichi into the air and caught her as she said, "I had a wonderful time on my first day! So many people, and such cute outfits *squeal*!"

Naruto nodded at the girl's energy and chuckled at Kichi's misfortune of stumbling around after the girl had set the fox down.

"Might as well get some studying done," said Naruto as he gently picked up the dizzy fox and headed up the stairs.

11:59.57

11:59.58

11:59.59

12:00.00

**[Dark Hour]**

Naruto, Mitsuru, Yukari, and Ikutsuki were in the command room observing the sleeping forms of Minato and Kotone through the Dark Hour.

"Their bodies are behaving normally," said Naruto as he checked the vitals on the screen, "Neither of them show any evidence of transmogrification and their brainwaves do show slight awareness."

Yukari looked down in guilt and said, "This feels wrong. We're trying to see if they have the potential, and yet here we are spying on them as they sleep."

"I understand your concerns," said Ikutsuki, "but it is very important to observe them to see any changes in behavior or activity."

Naruto scoffed and said, "Doesn't make this anymore right."

The Dark Hour annoyed Naruto, but then again, it was never normal what with the Shadows running about and the rise of Apathy Syndrome, a condition where those afflicted go into a level of apathy that they can't take care of themselves and mumble about destruction and the end.

_Those Veggies always give me the creeps,_ Naruto thought as he imagined the blank stares of the afflicted, _especially with those damned blank looks on their faces._

"If they do have the potential," said a silver haired teen wearing a red vest as he entered the room, "we'll be able to go there."

Mitsuru sighed and said, "Akihiko, this isn't a game; Shadows are the main cause of Apathy Syndrome and while it may not be much now, if this continues then there will be mass confusion and then followed by uncertain chaos."

The teen smirked and said, "All the more reason to fight them."

_Baka,_ Naruto bitterly thought at Akihiko's attitude, _This is going to be a while._

**[End Dark Hour]**

***Iwatodai Station***

A few days had passed since Minato and Kotone had moved into the dorm and Naruto couldn't help but have a feeling that something big was going to happen.

_What is this feeling?_ Naruto thought as he walked out of Hagakure with wonder on his face, _Maybe Kichi might know._

Naruto walked down the steps and saw Minato and the same boy from the other day.

"Hey Naruto," said Minato as he motioned lazily to the boy with a cap, "This is Junpei Iori."

The boy tipped his hat and with a smirk, he said, "I can't believe that I'm meeting Mitsuru-senpai's cousin. This is so freakin' awesome!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and said, "It's not _that_ impressive, I'm just her cousin not her long lost brother."

That didn't deter Junpei's enthusiasm as an elegant sounding ringtone came from Naruto as he opened his cellphone to see a text from Mitsuru.

"_Come to the dorm for an important meeting_," said Naruto as he read the text and motioned for Minato to follow him, "Come on Minato, Mitsuru needs us at the dorm."

Naruto knew the real message that Mitsuru had sent to have Minato and Kotone come back to the dorm.

_I'm sure Kichi is having that same feeling as I am,_ Naruto thought as he talked to the blue haired teen about classes and the occasional dirty joke.

11:59.57

11:59.58

11:59.59

12:00.00

**[Dark Hour]**

***Dorm***

Naruto, Yukari, Kichi, and Mitsuru were in the command room observing the two teens yet again.

Kichi could sense Naruto's anxiety as she felt the same and thought, _I bet my tail that something's bound to happen tonight._

As if answering Kichi's call, the radio beeped in as Mitsuru answered.

"Command room," said Mitsuru as Ikutsuki entered the room, "Akihiko, is that you?"

"Yeah," said Akihiko's voice from the radio, "I found one of them. I'm bringing it to you."

Naruto and Yukari pushed out of their seats in panic at what they had heard.

"He's bringing it here!?" said Yukari, panic evident in her voice.

Mitsuru looked at everyone and said, "Get ready to defend the dorm."

Akihiko had just entered the lounge holding his bleeding side as Mitsuru, Yukari, and Naruto had arrived with the blonde having a large sword strapped to his back.

"Senpai!" said Yukari as she saw the blood.

"Don't worry about me," said Akihiko as he winced in pain, "It'll be here at any moment and it's huge."

Naruto was tempted to give the boxer a knuckle sandwich, but the dorm shook from the Shadow's attack.

"Takeba, Namikaze," said Mitsuru as the faced the two in question, "Go get the new students and take them to safety."

"You don't have to say that twice," said Naruto as he and Yukari rushed up the stairs.

Naruto let Yukari get Minato as he rushed to get Kotone and made it to her room.

"Kotone, open up!" said Naruto as he pounded on the door before he used a copy of Kotone's key to unlock it, "Sorry, but I'm coming in!"

Naruto opened the door as Kotone was in a red night gown after being woken up very rudely.

"Whaz go'ng on?" asked Kotone as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"No time to explain," said Naruto as he handed the girl a small spear, "Take this and follow me! Now!"

Naruto and Kotone had just made it to the stairs as Yukari and Minato, wearing shorts and a wife beater with a short sword in his hand, had just made it.

_*CRASH!*_

"What!?" said Yukari as the sound echoed from down stairs.

Naruto looked at the girl in pink and said, "Get these two out of here while I take care of ugly down there."

The blond gave Yukari a stern look before he rushed down stair, sword ready for a fight. Naruto made it to the second floor and saw a massive blob of black ichor slithering towards him.

"Eat this, you freak!" roared Naruto as he slashed the monster twice. The creature backed up from the attack and let out a screech before attacking again. Naruto stepped on it and jumped behind it before impaling the sword into the creature.

"Too easy," said Naruto as he forced the blade out of the monster's body through the sides, splashing shadowy ichor onto the floor and walls, "I didn't even need to summon my Persona to beat that Shadow."

"It's not over," said Mitsuru as she and Akihiko had just arrived with Ikutsuki carrying the injured boxer, "A much larger Shadow is heading to the roof."

Mitsuru was nearly bowled over as her cousin and Kichi ran like mad up the stairs in hopes of saving the trio.

"We better get to the command room," said Ikutsuki as he ignored the blood seeping onto his suit, "Akihiko and I will provide aide while you and Naruto help Yukari and the new students."

Mitsuru and Akihiko nodded and soon followed Naruto up the stairs.

"Naruto," said Kichi as she followed Naruto, "I have felt something odd about those two."

Naruto stole a glance at the fox as he passed the command room and asked, "What do you mean, Kichi?"

Kichi looked at the blonde and said, "Those two have an odd aura to them. I don't know what it is, but it somehow feels familiar and frightening at the same time."

Naruto saw the door to the roof and rushed out to see a Shadow with multiple arms that held a blue mask and a lot of swords standing a few meters in front of Yukari and the other two teens.

"Yukari!" cried Naruto as he rushed towards the Shadow with a mighty leap. The Shadow saw Naruto and launched a fireball towards the blond, only for Naruto to deflect the attack.

"Now it's time," said Naruto as he got out the Evoker and pointed the device at his head, "Perso-ah!"

The Shadow launched a surprise attack that knocked Naruto away and sent the Evoker sliding towards Kotone.

"Naruto!" cried Yukari as she pulled out her own Evoker and pointed it at her face, only to freeze up as she stared down the barrel. The girl in pink was soon blasted away by a fireball from the Shadow, causing her Evoker to slide towards Minato.

Minato and Kotone both picked up the Evokers before looking at the Shadow and then Naruto rushing towards it, only to witness the blond get pushed back again.

"Go on," said the familiar voice of the little boy the two of them had met a few days ago. Minato and Kotone pointed the Evokers at their heads as their hearts began to beat loudly.

"Per…so…" said the duo in unison as they pulled the triggers, "…na…"

_*BANG! Shatter!*_

Naruto, Kichi, and Yukari turned to see Minato and Kotone become surrounded in a light blue aura as two phantoms appeared.

One phantom was that of a man with a mechanical body with a human head on its shoulders and a lyre resting upon its back.

The other phantom was that of a beautiful woman wearing a misty white robe with a microphone resting on her head.

**"****I am thou…"** said both spirits at the same time, **"and thou art I. From the sea of thy souls we arise. We are Orpheus and Siren, masters of songs."**

Both teens felt power running through their veins until something in their minds pulsed and brought them to their knees. Siren and Orpheus grabbed their heads before twitching around with maddening frenzy.

Kichi froze at what she was witnessing, the sudden surge in power pulsed as two new phantoms violently erupted from Orpheus and Siren.

The phantom that erupted from Orpheus was a human-like figure wearing a black coat with white leggings and gloves and what looked like a skull in the form of a mask while coffins were orbiting around it like a cape.

The phantom from Siren was now a harpy wearing tattered and bloody robes and had a sickening smile on her human-like face. The look on the phantom's face could send shivers down the bravest of spines.

_Dear Kami,_ Kichi thought as she stared at the two new phantoms as goose bumps formed under her fur, _such power from these two alone could rival even…!_

Everyone watched with fear and awe as the two spirits rushed in blinding speed towards the Shadow and began slaughtering the creature. Ichor flew wildly about as the two showed no mercy, even as the Shadow's remains began to dissolve into nothingness.

"My god…" said Yukari as she and Naruto got to their feet as they watched the two phantoms screech into the night sky before changing back into Orpheus and Siren.

_What are they…_Naruto thought as he calmed his beating heart, _How could these two possess such power!?_

The victory was short-lived as three smaller Shadows appeared and the duo went on to fight them with their Personas. Orpheus used his lyre to smash two Shadows while Siren froze a Shadow solid before the duo smashed the sculpture with their weapons. The battle was finally over as the Shadows vanish into oblivion while Orpheus and Siren returned into the minds of the two teens.

"Good job," said Minato as gave the girl next to him a thumbs up.

"Right back at ya," giggled Kotone before the two of them passed out from the lack of energy.

"Minato/Kotone!" cried both Naruto and Yukari as they ran towards the unconscious duo with Kichi following.

_Those two just summoned the Greek spirits of death, Thanatos and Keres!_ Kichi thought as she carefully sniffed the two fallen teens, _And that surge of power was insane…almost at…my…level…_

No one noticed the fox's worry as Naruto and Yukari carried the teens back inside the dorm, not knowing of what was about to happen in the future.

**Now that the two Wild Cards have awakened, what will happen along the road. Why did Kichi act so surprised about the amount of power that Minato and Kotone possessed? Don't forget to rate and review!**

**Ja ne.**


	3. Chapter 2

**I do not own Naruto or the Persona Series.**

"Persona!" normal speech

_"Persona!"_ thought/mind speak

**"Persona!"** demon/Persona speech.

Chapter II

***Hospital***

It had been a week since the incident at the dormitory as well as the awakening of Minato's and Kotone's Personas as Naruto patiently waited at Kotone's bedside.

During that week, SEES had learned that Akihiko will be on the sideline for a while because of a 'bad training accident' and the boxer wasn't too happy about it.

"Then again," said Naruto as he carefully watched Kotone for any changes, "we did find someone with the potential and helped them awaken their Persona."

It was only three nights after the incident when Naruto and Kichi ventured during the Dark Hour and found the person.

"I remember like it was yesterday…" said Naruto as he thought back on that particular night…

_Flashback_

**_[Dark Hour]_**

**_*Paulownia Mall*_**

_Naruto and Kichi were patrolling during the Dark Hour for any stray Shadows when the two of them heard a scream of terror._

_"__Come on kit," said Kichi as she and Naruto ran towards the source of the scream: a pharmacy._

_Naruto opened the door and saw a few coffins in the store and said, "Hello? Anyone here?"_

_Kichi twitched her ears a bit, went down one the isles and saw a figure curled up in a ball._

_"__Over here!" barked Kichi as she got the figure's attention._

_"__Huh?" said a familiar voice, "What's a fox doing here?"_

_Naruto looked at the figure and said, "You?"_

**_[End Dark Hour]_**

_Flashback End_

***Hospital***

Naruto was snapped out of memory lane as he saw Kotone waking up.

"N…Naruto-kun?" asked Kotone as she slowly lifted herself up, "Where…where am I?"

The blond chuckled and said, "You're at the hospital as you and Minato were in a week long coma after the two of you had awakened your Personas."

Seeing the confused look on the girl's face, Naruto then said, "I'll explain later, once Minato is up and about. But there is something I would like to tell you…about me."

"I'm not originally from around here," Naruto said as a solemn look was seen on his face as he began his tale, "I'm actually from another land similar to a backwater version to Japan. Too be honest, I was never really liked as most of the people there had saw me as some…thing similar to a monster and decided to attack me in hopes of destroying the monster that attack our home years ago."

Naruto swallowed a lump in his throat before he continued, "I had made friends before…but everything had changed when I stopped one of them from doing something completely stupid. That boy was actually more of a brother to me, but since he was the golden boy of the village…I was to be executed at midnight and that was when something inside of me had awakened and transported me here where I discovered I was a relative to Mitsuru through her mother, who happened to be my long lost aunt. I guess you can make up the rest from there."

"Well," Naruto said as he headed towards the door, "since you're awake, the Docs said that you and Minato are free to leave once you wake up. I have a few things to take care of for Mitsuru; We found another person for the team and I'm sure Yuka-tan would be quite surprised at who the person is."

Kotone watched the door shut as Naruto left and she couldn't help but think that there was more to Naruto than what the blond had let on, but she would cross that bridge later…after getting out of the hospital and finding something good to eat as she was completely starving.

Naruto walked down the halls of the hospital until he saw Fuuka and waved to her before approaching the girl.

"Hey Fuuka-chan, what brings you here?" Naruto asked with a small smile.

"I was…" said the girl with a quiet voice, "I was here…for a…check-up…You here for a check-up as well?"

Naruto couldn't help but sense that Fuuka was here for more than a check-up, but he let it go as he said, "I was just checking up on the two new kids since that little scare a week ago when they just collapsed without warning…turns out to be extremely bad fatigue."

Fuuka let out relaxed sigh and said, "Well I'm glad that they're alright. I'd talk with you some more, but I need to see the doctor. See you in school."

Naruto watched the girl walked down the hall as he couldn't help but feel something off and wanted to wait so he could talk to her, but his phone had gone off as the blonde check to find that Mitsuru was needing him.

_I wish I could help you Fuuka-chan,_ Naruto thought as he head out of the hospital, _but I guess I can wait for the right moment…for now._

***Gekkoukan High***

Classes had ended as Naruto walked out the doors with his gym bag in hand.

"I hate cutting out on the Kendo Team," the blonde said as he gave his sports gear and extra heave onto his shoulders, "but this meeting is important."

Naruto then saw Yukari walking with Kotone and couldn't help but cringe at Yukari's _pink_ cardigan.

"Pink's such an ugly color," Naruto couldn't help but whisper to himself as memories of what _she_ had done to him, "I'll never forgive her for what she'd done to me."

Naruto soon walked away, not noticing that someone had overheard him from the behind the steps.

"Naruto doesn't like pink?" Fuuka said with confusion at the blonde's tone of voice, "I understand that most guys think that pink is more of a girl's color, but why would he say it like that?"

Another thing that Fuuka had noticed was that Naruto had mentioned something about 'not forgiving her' as he looked at Yukari.

"And what does he have against Takeba-san?" Fuuka asked herself with much ponder on her mind as she then left in a hurry before _she_ could find her.

***Dorm***

Evening had arrived as Naruto, Kichi, Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Ikutsuki were in the command room waiting for Yukari to bring in Minato and Kotone.

"Can't believe the power they showed last week," Akihiko said as that night kept playing in his mind, "it's almost similar to Naruto's."

"Yeah," Naruto said as he crossed his arms, "I also remember _your_ blood dripping on the floors that night too. You do realize that you could have gotten us killed."

"I could have taken it," Akihiko said before he cringed in pain from his injuries.

"…And because of that," Naruto countered with an unimpressed look on his face, "we are down one of our senior members."

"Enough," Mitsuru said as she glared at both of the young boys, "Naruto, while you are right about the possible damages that could have happened, there is still the two of us and your ability to switch Personas."

"I can already tell that this team will be extremely powerful if both of them can switch Personas like Naruto," Ikutsuki said as Yukari soon entered with Minato and Kotone following her, "Speak of the devils. We're glad that the both of you are okay."

"The reason I asked for the both of you here is because I needed to talk with you," Ikutsuki began as he sent a comforting smile as he motioned to the empty chairs, "Please, have a seat."

As the trio took their seats, Ikutsuki motioned towards Akihiko and said, "Before I forget, this is Akihiko; I believe I mentioned him earlier."

The boxer gave the two a small wave as Ikutsuki then said, "Now, let me start off with this: Would you believe me if I said that a day consists of more than 24 hours?"

"No./…excuse me?" both Minato and Kotone said at the same time.

"Typical." Naruto bluntly said with a small chuckle before he then said, "Then again, you both have already gone through this before."

"You remember the night you two arrived?" Naruto then asked with a serious face, "You had to have seen the signs: no lights, anything electronic didn't work…the many coffins scattered around the place. Didn't you notice anything…odd about the whole thing?"

"That's the Dark Hour," Mitsuru explained as she picked up where the blonde had left off, "a time period hidden between one day and the next?"

"Hidden?" both teens asked at the same time.

"I guess it's something people aren't aware of," Ikutsuki said, hiding a small chuckle behind his voice, "but the Dark Hour does exist and it only happens at midnight; it'll happen tonight and every night following it."

"Normal people don't realize it, since they're all sleeping in their coffins," Akihiko added before a smirk appeared on his face, "But that's not what makes the Dark Hour interesting…"

The silver-haired teen then stood up, getting a slight look of concern from Mitsuru, and then said, "You saw those creatures; We call them 'Shadows'. They only appear during the Dark Hour and will attack anyone not in their coffin. It's our job to defeat them…sounds exciting, doesn't it?"

"Don't treat this like one of your boxing matches, you protein chugging baka!" Naruto said as he was tempted to hit Akihiko if not for the already existing injury on said boxer, "You got your ass badly tossed around not too long ago!"

Wanting to defuse the tension, Ikutsuki looked at both teens and said, "Now, now. He does his work well."

Both teens sat back down, but not before Naruto gave Akihiko a quick snort, as Ikutsuki then said, "Long story short: we're the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, or SEES for short. On paper, this is just a special club for the school, but in reality, we are a group dedicated to defeating the Shadows with Mitsuru as the leader and me being the club advisor."

"Shadows feed on the minds on those they target," Naruto said as he laced his fingers together, "turning their prey into living corpses. Shadows are also responsible for mostly everything that's been happening here if you pay attention to the news."

"How do you fight them?" Kotone asked with concern of what could happen because of those monsters.

"Although rare," Ikutsuki began as he sensed the question, "there are those who can function during the Dark Hour; some may even awaken to a power that enables them to fight the Shadows."

"The power the two of you used," Naruto said as he leaned back on his seat, "that kind of power is called Persona; Shadows can only be beaten by those who have such a power."

"Which means it's all up to you guys," Ikustuki said before he receive an understanding nod and a slight reluctant nod from Minato and Kotone respectively, "I'm glad you both understand."

Naruto and Mitsuru stood up and opened the two silver suitcases on the table as Mitsuru said, "What he is trying to say is that we want you to join us; We've prepared Evokers for the both of you so you could lend us your strength."

"Sure/…okay," said Minato and Kotone at the same time.

"What is it with the whole 'psychic twin' thing?" Kichi asked as was lying next to Naruto's seat.

"I'm glad that you both accepted," Ikutsuki said with a smile, "and as for your rooms…why not stay here in your current rooms?

_Dude just wanted to get out of doing paperwork,_ Naruto thought as he ignored the chairman's poor excuse of a joke.

"What have I gotten myself into, Kichi?" Naruto asked the fox at his feet as he gently ran a hand on her back.

"You keep asking yourself that and Buddha will eventually just smack you on the upside of your head with the answer," the fox said with a yawn escaping her mouth, "Time for me to get my beauty rest. C'mon Kit, you need your rest too considering that it's almost time to go _there_."

Naruto wordlessly followed considering that Minato and Kotone are not the only ones joining SEES…

The next evening arrived as Naruto and Akihiko were waiting in the lobby before Yukari arrived with Minato and Kotone following her.

"Okay," Yukari said as she looked at the two teens, "they're here…what's this about?"

"Just a new addition to the team," Naruto said before he opened the door behind him and said, "Hey! How much longer are you going to take?"

"Hold on," said a familiar voice that caught Yukari and Minato's attention, "j-just giiive me a minute."

Naruto moved from the door as Junpei arrived as he was pushing a large green suitcase into the lobby.

"J-Junpei!?" Yukari asked with complete shock, "What's HE doing here!? Wait…don't tell me that…"

"This is Junpei Iori from Class 2-F," Akihiko said as he ignored the shocked reaction from Yukari, "He'll be staying here as of today."

Junpei chuckled as he asked, "Whazzup?"

"Really!?" Yukari said, still shocked at the revelation before her, "He's staying HERE!?"

"Kichi and I found him while Minato and Kotone were out," Naruto said as he placed a hand on Junpei's shoulder, "He's got the potential, but he just recently discovered it. Told him about our little group and what we do and he jumped on the bandwagon."

Seeing the completely slapped look on Yukari, Junpei chuckled a bit before he sheepishly admitted, "They found me at the convenience store, crying like a baby and surrounded by coffins. I don't remember much, but it was pretty embarrassing."

"It just a normal phase for beginning Persona-users," Naruto said as if the information was trivia, "confusion, disorientation, partial memory loss. It goes away in time as you get used to everything."

"I'd pretty much say the introductions are over," Akihiko then said with a knowing smirk, "I'd say they're ready…"

"Ready?" Junpei asked with curiosity, "For what?"

"Hold on Akihiko," said Naruto as he knew what the boxer was thinking, "How about I show 'em the ropes of what we do exactly and what to do."

Before anything was said, Naruto looked at the four and said, "Meet me on the roof at midnight for…initiation."

Everyone watched Naruto and Kichi walking up the stairs as Junpei asked, "Initiation?"

11:59.57

11:59.58

11:59.59

12:00.00

**[Dark Hour]**

The Dark Hour had arrived as Naruto and Kichi were standing before Yukari, Junpei, Minato, and Kotone with Mitsuru and Akihiko on the side.

"Alright," Naruto began as he motioned to the foam weapons and the toy bow with suction darts, "before you do ANYTHING involving with what we do, you have to be ready for what you're about to face."

"Question," Junpei said as he pointed at the foam weapons that seemed to be dripping a red liquid, "What's with the toys?"

Naruto answered Junpei's question with a smirk and a chuckle as he said, "In order to learn how to fight against the Shadows, you all are going to fight me so that you can understand what we are dealing with. And so that no one will get too badly injured, all of you will be using weapons that will mark your hits with red paint, with the exception of the toy bow which uses suction darts, and I will only use my bare hands. Mitsuru will provide backup and support with her Persona as you fight me. Your mission is to defeat me using your Personas and the weapons provided to you. You are also to come at me with the intent to kill as Shadows will hold nothing back."

Kichi then walked in front of Naruto as the blond then said, "Also as a little incentive…whoever can catch Kichi will be declared the leader of our team. A little warning though, she is pretty fast and I WILL protect her with everything I got."

"Wh-What if we don't want to fight you?" Yukari hesitantly asked before getting a small glare from Naruto.

"If you don't fight…" the blond said with a cold and serious face, "…then we will have no choice as to boot you out of the dorm without remorse."

The blond hid a chuckle at the panicked look on the four teens' faces as only Mitsuru and Ikutsuki could only do such actions. He just wanted to mess with them.

"Now then…" Naruto said as he got into a battle stance as the others quickly grabbed their weapon of choice and got into their own battle stances, "BEGIN!"

Junpei quickly rushed in with the large foam katana and swung the weapon with a mighty heave. Naruto ducked into a roll before giving the hat wearing teen a sharp punch to the gut, knocking Junpei as few feet back.

"A katana," Naruto said as he saw Junpei get up, "a powerful and devastating weapon, but very slow and heavy because of its size. You really have to be careful if you trip up while attacking your opponents. Of course, your stance is a bit brutish since you're holding the katana like a baseball bat."

The blond quickly dodged another attack from Junpei before tripping the teen flat onto his fact while Kichi easily jumped onto his back with an unimpressed look on her face before she saw Kotone.

"Kit!" the fox cried out, "Behind you!"

Naruto quickly rolled to the side to avoid a diagonal slash from the girl as the foam blade of her weapon of choice made a paint splatter on the spot where the blond was before.

"A spear," Naruto said as he quickly studied the girl, "Decent range and attack…not a bad choice as you provide yourself with a small safe zone. However…"

The blond quickly dashed right in front of Kotone and said, "…you can't do much if the blade doesn't hit and your enemy gets into your safe zone."

Seeing Yukari aim a suction dart at him, Naruto grabbed the girl before him and placed her in between him and Yukari just as the dart was let loose. The dart had hit Kotone in the back and was stuck on her as Naruto then shoved her into Yukari.

"You couldn't make it any MORE obvious, Yukari?" Naruto taunted as he quickly dodged an attack from Junpei by twisting around him and pushing him to the side, "While bow and arrows are useful for hard to hit and flying enemies, you really have to be quick and careful with each shot as your only allowed a certain amount of time and one shot before the enemy can get to you."

Yukari was about to load another dart before it was quickly snatched away by Kichi as the fox took the dart away with her mouth, allowing Naruto the opportunity to get in close and throw Yukari to the side and into Kotone.

"This is actually quite fun!" Kichi said as she dropped the dart and jumped away when Junpei slid on the roof in an attempt to grab her, "Should have figured something like this years ago!"

Naruto flashed a quick smirk before having to dodge a flurry of attacks from Minato as the blunette tried to rush him.

"Always a classic," Naruto said as he gave Minato a quick Judo throw into Junpei, "a sword has average range and attack and is much faster than a spear and katana. Perfectly balanced if I do say so myself, just mind those who are quicker than you."

Naruto looked as Minato and Junpei got to their feet while Yukari and Kotone were standing next to them.

"How about we make this interesting…" Naruto said as he pulled out his Evoker and pointed it at his head, "Persona: Titan!"

_*BANG! shatter!*_

The others watched as a giant wearing Greek battle armor and wielding a sword appeared out of thin air and cracked its neck.

"Oh yeah!" Junpei said as he pulled out his Evoker and pointed it at his head, "Two can play at that game!"

The teen tried to pull the trigger, but he suddenly froze as something was holding him back.

"Kill Rush!" Naruto ordered as Titan obeyed by giving a powerful punch to Junpei before following the attack with a kick that sent Junpei a few feet away.

"NEVER HESITATE!" Naruto roared as he summoned Titan again and used the same attack on Minato, "Hesitation in a battle against the Shadows will cost you dearly!"

Acting quickly, bluenette had summoned Orpheus to block the first attack before receiving the following attack as Titan had used a roundhouse kick to get around the lute that Orpheus used as a shield.

"Not bad," Naruto said as Minato fell back a few feet before getting back on his feet, "You weren't even shaken with a gun pointed at your head. Just remember to know what you're wanting to do as Personas have abilities that can allow you to combat the Shadows."

The blond quickly avoided an attack by Kotone before throwing her towards Minato, causing the two to crash into each other, and said, "Come on; I know you can do better than that if what last week had shown! You need to use whatever advantage you have against the Shadows if you want to defeat them!"

Getting the message, Minato turned to Mitsuru and said, "Senpai, I need you to see if Naruto has any weaknesses!"

The red head smirked as one of them had gotten her cousin's message and summoned a woman wearing a dark blue high collared shirt under an armored corset and an iron mask wielding a dagger and a rapier in both hands.

"Give me some time while I analyze the enemy with Penthesilea," Mitsuru said as her Persona crossed her blades. She already knew Naruto's weakness when he was using Titan, but she knew that Naruto wanted her to treat this little session as a real battle.

Naruto smirked as he used Junpei to shield himself from Yukari's arrows before he then said, "Good move on having Mitsuru over there trying to find my weakness, but I have another little surprise for you."

Naruto pushed Junpei away as he drew out his Evoker and said, "Persona: Jinn!"

The echoing shot rang out as Titan vanished before being replaced by a muscular man with a high ponytail and devilish horns wearing a red vest with the lower half of his body in the form of mist that retreated into a small lamp.

"What the hell!?" Junpei said as he looked at the new Persona, "You can change Personas!?"

"I'm just that unique," Naruto said with a smirk as he held his Evoker to his head and pointed towards Junpei, "Garu!"

Jinn took in a huge breath before letting out a gust of wind out which sent the targeted teen flying back pretty hard from the attack.

Junpei tried to get up, but the attack had seriously done a number on him as he was struggling to get to his feet.

"Be mindful of your own weaknesses," Naruto said as his Persona crossed its arms, eyes glowing venomously, "even if the attack is incredibly weak, it will still knock you down pretty badly if you're weak to it!"

"Got it!" Mitsuru said as she decided to jump in, "The enemy's weakness is Fire and Electricity. You need to use Agi or Zio skills!"

Minato smirk as Orpheus had Agi and was about to go for the attack when Naruto suddenly rush him. The bluenette jumped away before Naruto could hit him before having to dodge another attack from the blond's Persona. Naruto wasn't giving the teen the chance to use his Evoker with the pressure of his rushing attacks.

Seeing this, Kotone looked at Junpei and Yukari and quickly said, "We need to hold Naruto off so that Minato can summon his Persona!"

Yukari nodded as she knocked another arrow and aimed at Naruto while Kotone rushed towards the blonde.

Junpei was able to get to his feet and drew his Evoker as he said, "Alright, time for me to join this little game! Persona: Hermes!"

The echoing shot rang out as a figure wearing a bluish-black uniform, a helmet with wings on its side, and had a series of golden blades that looked like wings themselves as they were attached to the figure's hands and feet came rushing towards Naruto in a flying kick.

Seeing the Persona coming towards him, Naruto and Jinn jumped away as Hermes just flew right past them and off of the roof and into the street below.

"Nice one," the blond said as he and his Persona gave each other a fist bump before something smack Naruto in the back, causing him to stumble forward.

Naruto quickly leapt onto his feet and felt the paint on his back and smirked at the lone hit he had received.

_Looks like they're starting to get the idea,_ Naruto thought before a shot echoed into the night as a blast of fire knocked him back into a painful roll. The blond cursed at himself for forgetting about Minato and Orpheus as Kotone's and Junpei's attacks had distracted him long enough for the bluenette to have his Persona use a fire skill.

"Everyone!" Minato and Kotone roared at the same time, "All-Out Attack!"

Naruto couldn't defend himself properly as Minato's attack had done its job of weakening him despite how strong Jinn was.

The flurry of attacks stopped as Naruto leapt back in a series of backflips to reveal that he was covered in a good bit of paint and darts.

"So…" Naruto said as he tightened his fist to a point that a small audible crack was heard from them, "…that's how you want to play it, huh?"

The four teens tightened their grips on their weapons while Minato was preparing for another attack with Orpheus as the look Naruto was giving them had signaled to them that he was going to throw something at them.

"Guess it's time to let you know just _what_ I thought about that little stunt of yours." Naruto said with a venomous tone in his voice as he bared his slightly elongated canines in a threatening manner.

The teens had to try and suppress the shiver down their spines before the dark hour had ended as the world had gone back to normal with the normal city sound going on as if nothing had happened.

"I'll tell you what I thought about that cheap tactic you pulled on me!" Naruto said before he changed his threatening demeanor to a relaxed and less serious attitude, "You all passed."

"Huh?" the four teens asked incredulously as they stare at the blond who was just laughing at the slapped looks on their faces.

_This is going to be good..._

**Guess Naruto surprised everyone at the initiation. What will happen to the team afterwards?**

**I couldn't help but have Naruto do the same thing Kakashi had done, but I wanted our favorite blond to have it used in an actual battle with the All-Out Attack.**

**Don't forget to rate and review!**

**Ja ne.**


	4. Chapter 3

**To clear up a misunderstanding, Naruto doesn't have as sister. It's his mother who has a sister and some of the other questions I've been asked will be answered in future chapters. Sorry for any confusion that may have happened on my behalf.**

**On a final note, I do not own Naruto, the Persona Series, or Fly Me To The Moon. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Shin Megami Tensei, and Frank Sinatra respectively.**

"Persona!" normal speech

_"Persona!"_ thought/mind speak

**"Persona!"** demon/Persona speak

Chapter III

***Gekkoukan High***

Naruto was sitting on one of the benches in the gymnasium in his kendo gear after going a few matches with a couple of the new recruits as they wanted to try their luck with the feared Demon Blade. It was actually the one time he didn't mind being called a demon as a form of respect instead of ignorant fear and hatred.

"You whipped those two pretty good, Naruto," said one of the other members of the Kendo Team as he removed his helmet to reveal his sweating face, "just what I expect out our captain. What's your secret?"

"I honestly don't know really." Naruto said with a smirk that accompanied his chuckle, "I just read what my opponent is going to do next, find an opening, and then rush them. Another thing is that somehow I feel at home in the Kendo Team; it feels right to hold a sword in my hands."

The member chuckled as he said, "You really are something Capn'. But I can't argue with you there about that feeling when holding that sword. I guess it's just that some of us have remnants of that old samurai blood."

"Don't tell Mr. Ono that theory," Naruto said as he couldn't help but notice Minato entering the gym and watching the current match before leaving, "we may end up having actual samurai duels instead of competitions if he gets involved."

Both students laughed at the joke before the coach decided to have the team call it a day after introducing a few students who had decided to join the Kendo Team and introducing them to everyone.

In the locker rooms, Naruto stood in one of the showers as the water ran down his naked body to wash the sweat and exhaustion away. Naruto grabbed the loofa and lathered soap on it and began to wash his upper body until he reached the large circular scar on the right side of his torso near his shoulder.

"Once again…" Naruto said as he began washing over the scar on his torso and its matching twin on his back. As the process was happening, a powerful, electrical, tingling pain coursed through his body even after he had finished washing the areas. The scars were constant reminders of what could have…should have been his last day alive when Sasuke rammed that Chidori into his chest. Naruto wanted to forget his past, but the scars were just large signs telling him that he could never forget the past in the forms of the electrical tingles he would feel whenever something were to touch them be it fabric or just plain water.

Those scars were always the reason he would already be in gear before the other members of the club would arrive and why he would be the last to get his shower after everyone had left. Aside from Kichi and the doctors who would see them, the only ones who knew of the scars would be Mitsuru and Takeharu. Those two were also the only ones who knew just how Naruto got those scars as the doctors were only told that the blond was lucky when he was impaled by an electrical rod.

The electrical rush died down to a slight tingle, signaling that it had calmed down enough to allow Naruto to finish his shower without agitating it badly again. The scars had also dug down into his psyche as all three of his Personas shared a common weakness to electrical attacks that the attacks would send his body into a fit of seizure-like twitches. Only Mitsuru knew of this as she would just tell their teammates that the enemy had shocked his body real badly.

After his shower and getting dressed, Naruto walked out towards the school gates when he saw Minato and Kotone walking next to him.

"Hey Naruto-kun!" said Kotone as she smiled, "Minato and I joined the sports clubs; I'm in the Volleyball Club while Mina-kun's in track."

"Nice choices," Naruto said with a proud smirk, "I'm glad you two decided to take up the offers as any sports club here will be beneficial."

The duo chuckled as they remembered what Naruto had told them a few nights ago with their little initiation…

_Flashback_

**_[Dark Hour]_**

**_*Dorm*_**

_The group was stunned when Naruto had told them that they passed after nearly coating the entirety of the blond's body in paint._

_ "__What do you mean we passed?" Junpei asked incredulously, "We could barely touch you before Minato got that shot in!"_

_Naruto shook his head and said, "That's true as I have been fighting the Shadows longer than you have, but I wanted you four to understand the lesson I had hidden with this little initiation is that we are to work as a team. A wise man once said, "Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their teammates are lower than trash." A previous teacher I once had had told me this philosophy, but he himself had never followed it as he had played favorites."_

_ "__The only reason you were able to beat me," Naruto continued as he sat on the edge of the roof, "is that you used teamwork to get an advantage over me by allowing Minato a proper opening to hit Jinn's weak spot. You also had to have noticed that by facing me on your own was dangerous as I was able to toss you around until you worked as a team. While you may be able to defeat some Shadows on your own, you cannot defeat a horde of them alone as such an attempt could be suicide. You must be able to rely on your teammates for support as each of you have individual skills that will be beneficial to the team be it healing or attack skills."_

_ "__So we each have to contribute our own weight to the team?" Yukari asked with a hint of reluctance as she stole a quick glance towards Mitsuru._

_ "__Yes." Naruto said with a blunt tone, "It doesn't matter if you are at each other's throats 24/7, we are a team so we're expecting you to at least get along and tolerate one another during our activities."_

_ "__Now then," the blond said as he got to his feet, "I say it's about time we call it as we will need our rest for a few days before taking a trip to Tartarus."_

**_[End Dark Hour]_**

_Flashback End_

***Iwatodai Station***

Naruto, Kotone, and Minato had gotten off the monorail and headed towards the dorm as they had passes some of the people at the stores.

"So Naruto-kun," Kotone asked curiously, "tonight we'll be going to that Tartarus place, right?"

"Yes," Naruto answered as tonight was the night and with the number of Persona users in SEES, now would be a good time to explore the place, "I will tell you that we have never actually been any further than the entrance floor as we never had the numbers on our side, but now that we do, we can do some real exploring. I'll go ahead and say to hold off any questions as all will be explained once we are there."

"Okay." Kotone said as she and the two boys continued down the path until she asked, "So how many Persona users does SEES have?"

"Well," Naruto said as he brought a hand to his chin, "when SEES was first formed, there were only four of us and we only fought Shadows that had wondered outside of Tartarus until a certain incident had caused one of our members to leave. Then Yukari arrived and she hasn't been an active member for real long actually before the two of you arrived and gave us that massive surprise when you awakened your Personas. Junpei is our most recent member so that would be about…"

Naruto counted on his fingers real quick before he said, "…six. But of course with Bakahiko's injury, we're temporarily down to five until he's fully healed."

"What caused the one person to quit?" Minato asked with a lazy look in his eyes.

Naruto cringed a bit before he said, "There was…an accident that happened during a fight with a Shadow that caused some…permanent collateral. We really don't talk about it much as it was pretty bad and SEES was shaken up during the aftermath. Anyway, we're almost at the dorm so once we're there just take care of any business, studying, relaxing, or whatever, until we bring you to Tartarus."

The trio remained quiet as they continued towards the dorm, each of them with different thoughts about what Tartarus looked like.

***Gekkoukan High***

Everyone approached the gates of their school late at night with the darkness of the night surrounding the building, almost giving it a haunted look.

"Why are we back at the school?" Junpei asked with visible disbelief on his face, "THIS is Tartarus?"

"Wait for it…" Naruto said as he pulled out his cell phone as the clock revealed that it was 11:59.

11:59.57

11:59.58

11:59.59

12:00.00

**[Dark Hour]**

***Tartarus; Entrance***

It wasn't a minute after the Dark Hour had gone into effect when the groaning and clanking sound of metal shifting about echoed from the now changing buliding. Minato, Kotone, Yukari, and Junpei watched in shocked fascination as the once normal high school was now a towering skyscraper that looked like it could almost touch the moon that now stood before them.

"Wha…Wha…" Junpei asked with shock still evident in his voice as his eyes were still on the tower, "What happened to our school!?"

"Pretty surprising to see that the school you go to almost every day transform into what can shortly be described as the Shadows' nest." Naruto said with a slight joking smirk.

"Their…nest?" Junpei said as he was now looking at Naruto.

"We have never actually explored Tartarus," Mitsuru said as she stood unfazed at what had happened to the school, "but now with the number of members who can use a Persona having increased, we can now properly conduct an investigation of the tower."

The group soon entered to find a stair case leading upwards to what looked like a series of clocks, a motorcycle, and an odd device. As they walked, Naruto saw something catch Minato's and Kotone's attention as the two walked off to the side. The two then just stood on the side with a distant look on their faces before Yukari and Junpei approached them.

"Are they alright?" Akihiko asked as this behavior was a bit odd.

"Maybe there's another side effect to awakening a Persona?" Naruto said as the new Persona users were now approaching them.

Mitsuru remained silent at the idea of hallucinations after awakening a Persona.

"Sorry about that." Yukari said as she and the others stood before the senior members, "You were saying Senpai?"

The Kirijo woman nodded as she said, "As I have said, beyond these stairs lies the labyrinth that is Tatarus. Inside are rooms that are constantly changing each night so no two paths are the same."

"First we'll have you get a feel of this place." Akihiko said with a smirk, "Why not go have a look around?"

"By ourselves!?" Yukari asked with surprise.

"You're not going to go far for tonight," Naruto said as he looked at Mitsuru, "Mitsuru's going to be giving us the info about the place and Shadows while I'm going with you four should there be any trouble."

"We're also going to appoint a leader to make the necessary decisions." Akihiko said, catching Junpei's attention.

"…one of us?" the young boy asked quietly before a large smile grew on his face, "Oh! Oh! Me me me! Pick me!"

Akihiko looked at the group before he pointed to Minato and Kotone and said, "Those two are in charge."

"What!?" Junpei asked incredulously at the boxer's decision, "They don't look like leaders!"

"But they had fought them before." Yukari countered as she and the others, save for Junpei, remembered that night.

Junpei looked at the girl in pink with a shocked and questioning look.

"Also…" Naruto said as he looked at Junpei and Yukari while pointing his Evoker to the side of his head, "can either of you summon your Personas without hesitation?"

The two looked nervous as Junpei said, "O-of course I can; no sweat!"

_We'll see about that,_ both Naruto and Kichi thought as the group, minus Akihiko and Mitsuru, climbed the stairs and into the labyrinth.

***Tartarus; Thebel***

Everyone looked around as they entered the first area, weapons ready for the Shadows to attack.

"So this is it?" Junpei asked as he tightened his grip on the katana.

"Hope I don't get lost…" Yukari said with a slightly worried tone in her voice.

"Can you all hear me?" Mitsuru asked through the special walkie-talkies before Naruto picked up his.

"Loud and clear, Cuz." the blond answered.

"Good," Mitsuru said as her voice echoed from the device, "I'll be providing audio backup from here on out."

"Wait…" Junpei said with slight surprise, "Can you see inside here?"

"It's an ability of Mitsuru's Persona, Penthesilea," Naruto answered for his cousin, "and with how this place is just as random as the lottery, we need to have someone on the outside so that they can see ahead."

Yukari quietly mumbled something to herself before Mitsuru said, "Based on your current location, you five should encounter the enemy at any given moment. It shouldn't be too difficult, but still proceed with caution."

"That is where I come into play." Naruto said as he pointed to himself, "If you need me to, I will have Jinn teleport us back to the entrance should the going get tough. I'll also jump in during battle if need be so that you can get a breather."

The other smiled at Naruto's support before Junpei looked at Kichi.

"Why's Kichi here?" he asked as he pointed to said fox, "Can she use a Persona."

Naruto kneeled and began to pet Kichi as he said, "Nah…she's my lucky charm!"

_I'm more than your lucky charm,_ the fox thought to herself as the others just face faulted at the blond's answer, _and you know it._

The group began exploring for a little bit before Mitsuru chimed in.

"I'm detecting a Shadow not too far from your location!" she said as everyone looked to find a small black blob slithering around, "If you time your attacks right, you can gain the upper hand in combat."

"Alright!" Junpei said with great bravado as he charged the monster, "Let show this bastard what for!"

The group charged the Shadow as the creature soon donned a blue mask with the Roman numeral I on it. Naruto stood by as the four began to attack the Shadow as it was a pretty weak monster, but a good starting point for the four new recruits. The fight was short-lived as Junpei dealt the final blow, causing the Shadow to dissolve away.

"Alright, who's da man!" the teen cheered as he got in a victory pose with Naruto slowly clapping his hands.

"Not bad," the blond said as he approached the group, "but remember that fighting Shadows is not going to be as easy as 1, 2, 3; you have to stay on your toes."

Everyone nodded before exploring further into the maze until they found a set of stairs.

"There should be a staircase nearby." Mitsuru said as her voice echoed from the walkie-talkie, "Do you see it?"

"Plain as a clothed person at a nudist convention." Naruto said, getting a chuckle from Junpei and Minato, as the staircase was indeed standing right before the group.

Ignoring her cousin's crude joke, Mitsuru said, "Those staircases are the only way to proceed through Tartarus. Ignore them for now as I don't want you to go any higher than today."

"Killjoy." Naruto muttered to himself before everyone continued their exploration of the area.

The group continued to explore until two Shadows attacked them, but they were quickly taken down when Junpei had used his Persona, Hermes, and easily destroyed them as his Persona slashed the two monsters with a simple slide with his wing-like blades.

"That three for Junpei Iori!" said person cheered as he was breathing a bit heavily, "How's that!"

"Good job, but there's one thing you need to know." Naruto said as he looked at Junpei, "Personas have two different kinds of skills: Attack skills and Spiritual skills. Attack skills, such as Hermes's Cleave skill, uses up your stamina and if you keep using skills like Cleave or Kill Rush, you're not going to last long in a battle without any form of healing. Spiritual skills, such as Orpheus's Agi skill, uses up your energy, which is safer than using your stamina, but you also need to keep an eye on your energy so that you won't find yourself deep trouble if you can't use any elemental attacks or support skills like Dia." Everyone nodded after Naruto had finished his small lecture before continuing their journey through the maze.

After finding a few helpful items within chests hidden in the maze and another battle with a group of Shadows, Naruto noticed that the group was starting to get winded while they were also a bit stronger.

"How's everyone doing?" the blond asked as they traveled deeper through the maze, "Don't push yourself as our health can affect the battle in a drastic way…just be careful if you get sick."

"Wait." Mitsuru said as the group appeared at a fork in the path, "Usually there are more Shadows in the area. I believed you gained enough experience in battle so we should head back to the dorm as there should be an Access Point nearby that will allow you to return to the entrance, or you can ask Namikaze to have his Persona take you instead. Since there are no enemies around, feel free to explore on your own as there might still be some items laying around."

"Alright," said Minato as he looked at the group, "let's split up from here, but be careful."

Nodding, everyone went their separate ways as Mitsuru contacted Naruto.

"I want you to guard the stairs to the next floor as I don't want them to go any higher." Mitsuru ordered as said blond rushed towards the stairs.

"On it." Naruto answered as he then said, "The new recruits aren't half bad. With a little more training they could probably catch up to us, and considering Minato's and Kotone's power, those two would probably be pretty beastly."

_My thoughts exactly,_ Kichi thought to herself as she and Naruto arrived at the stairs, _the power those two have is unreal if they have another surge like that night._

The fox was still surprise at just HOW strong Minato and Kotone could be and it did raise a few flags for her. No one person could be that strong without either pure natural talent or raw and suicidal training.

_Perhaps there's something more to those two,_ Kichi thought as she sat on the first step and waited for something to happen, _but what?_

"I found the Access Point." Minato said as his voice echoed from the walkie-talkie, "We should head back for now."

Kichi remained silent as she and Naruto headed towards Minato's location with the others soon following. She still couldn't shake the feeling, but she knew maybe more could be revealed in time.

***Tartarus; Entrance***

The group appeared after the Access Point briefly glowed to life before shutting down.

"Welcome back." Mitsuru said with a small, confident smile on her face before adopting a serious tone, "So, how was it?"

"No problem." both Minato and Kotone answered in unison.

"I see." Mitsuru said with confidence, "If you gained confidence like that, then we shouldn't have any problems in the future."

"Never knew I had that kind of power!" Junpei said confidently before slumping his shoulders a bit, "But I'm seriously beat…"

"That's because you were bouncing around so much." Yukari said as she was breathing heavily herself, "Although I'm still trying to catch my breath…"

"That's the Dark Hour for ya." Naruto said as he was unfazed, "One night of running around at this time will take a lot out of you. It's almost like running a marathon right after climbing Fuji. You'll get used to it though."

"Now then," Mitsuru said as she headed towards the entrance, "we should head back to the dorm as the Dark Hour is almost over."

The group agreed and left the labyrinth so they could greet the new day.

**[End Dark Hour]**

***Gekkoukan High***

Naruto was practicing with the Kendo Team, showing them the many attacks and guards to use in competition, when he saw Akihiko enter.

"Take ten everyone." Naruto said as he removed his helmet before approaching the boxer, "'sup Senpai?"

"I was planning on having Minato or Kotone visit Officer Kurosawa and get some equipment." Akihiko said as he looked at the blond, "Care to join?"

"Nah." Naruto answered as he pointed to some of the newer members of the Kendo Team, "I still need to beat the crap out of some of the new guys here, but thanks for the offer."

Akihiko nodded as he said, "Alright, I'll see ya back at the dorm."

Naruto watched Akihiko leave before seeing a few girls enter the gym and sit at the sidelines.

_Great…_Naruto thought as he recognized the group of girls from his little fan club, _guess I'll have to deal with them as well. Fan girls are just as bad as Shadows when it comes to mobs._

The blond could feel his eyebrow twitching as the girls held out small flags while two of them held up a banner that said "Namikaze Fan Club" while Naruto's face was dead center with hearts surrounding him.

_Maybe I should have taken that offer…_

***Paulownia Mall***

It was nighttime as Naruto had stepped out of Mandragora, a karaoke bar that he frequented, and took a seat at one of the benches.

"Another good night." Naruto said as he took a drink of water from a bottle he had. He always loved visiting the place and singing some of the songs that were available while many people who were there had also commented on his excellent singing voice. That was one of the things he loved about Mandragora as everyone there always supported him, including this one guy in a suit from that shopping channel. He felt so free as he wasn't being looked down upon or treated badly, even if it was mostly because he was related to the Kirijo Group.

Taking out his cellphone, Naruto noticed that it was getting late so he decided to head on back to the dorm just in case S.E.E.S. took a trip into Tartarus. As the blond walked towards the dorm, he was still feeling the small energy high from his karaoke session and decided to sing a little bit…

**_Fly me to the moon,_**

**_Let me play among the stars._**

**_Let me see what spring is like on,_**

**_A-Jupiter and Mars._**

**_In other words,_**

**_Hold my hand._**

**_In other words,_**

**_Baby, kiss me._**

Naruto couldn't help but add a little spring into his step as he was really feeling good tonight and continued singing…

**_Fill my heart with song,_**

**_And let me sing forever more._**

**_You are all I long for,_**

**_All I worship and adore._**

**_In other words,_**

**_Please be true._**

**_In other words,_**

**_I love you!_**

Naruto continued to walk and sing through the night, unaware of a pair of eyes watching him.

"His voice is so pure!" Fuuka said as she felt a chill run down her spine at how smooth the blond's voice was, "It's like I can feel his joy and energy from his voice alone!"

Fuuka blushed as so many thoughts entered her mind and she couldn't help but sigh at Naruto's charms while said blond was still unaware of her.

_I…_the young girl thought as something came across her mind as her face felt warm from the blush she was sporting,_ I think I have a crush on Naruto-kun._

**How will things play out for SEES from here on out? How will Fuuka and Naruto get together?**

**If you're wondering why I chose Fly Me To The Moon, I only chose it for Naruto to show how much he loves his new freedom. I may have mentioned this before, but we can only imagine what our favorite blond had to go through and we can be sure it may not have been a pleasant ordeal. So why not enjoy the new freedom with a song?**

**Don't forget to rate and review!**

**Ja ne.**


	5. Chapter 4

**I do not own Naruto or the Persona Series.**

"Persona!" normal speech

_"Persona!"_ thought/mind speak

**"DIE!"** Demon/Shadow speak

Chapter IV

***Gekkoukan High***

Naruto had just gotten out of the locker room showers after getting dressed in his school uniform. Kendo had just ended as the blond began to venture out of the school and towards the dormitory, while avoiding the Namikaze Fan Club at the same time. The fan club had nice girls, but Naruto was scared of them at times considering how rabid they can be, especially against the Sanada Fan Club.

"Greetings, Naruto-kun," said Fuuka as she was at her locker when she saw Naruto, "how are you?"

"Alright." Naruto answered as he gave his sports bag a heft onto his shoulder, "Just got done with Kendo and I'm heading back to the dorms. Care to join me?"

Fuuka nodded as walked alongside the blond, unaware of someone watching them with their cellphone out.

"This will make some good material," the person chuckled to herself as she looked at the picture she got with her phone, "although I hate to bring Naruto into this, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

***Monorail***

Naruto and Fuuka were sitting at one of the seats, watching the world pass by them as they rode the train.

"So how are Arisato-san and Shione-san?" Fuuka asked as she looked at Naruto, "I heard that they had suddenly passed out sometime ago. Is something wrong with them?"

"Just some really bad fatigue." Naruto answered as he looked at Fuuka, "They're fine, although Minato could be narcoleptic with how he looks and acts."

The blond couldn't help but think that was true sometimes as some of the students had said that the bluenette had been seen sleeping in class, but the guy was a freaking genius when the teachers would ask him a question.

_Minato and Kotone have definitely improved during the past few weeks,_ Naruto thought as he remembered some of the trips into Tartarus and just how much stronger everyone has gotten. With just how fast the two leaders were getting more stronger and the number of different Personas they could possess completely amazed the blond and Kichi to no end.

"Hey Naruto-kun," Fuuka said, snapping the blond out of his thoughts, "I couldn't help but notice you were in a good mood last night."

Naruto chuckled as he said, "I was just taking in the feeling of being free since Uncle Takeharu took me in when the Kirijo Group found me."

"It must be something to live with the Kirijo Group." Fuuka said as she carefully scooted closer to the blond, "What's it like?"

"Eh…" Naruto answered casually with a shrug of his shoulders, "I'm not really into all that 'upper class' thing as it just feels weird to have people treat me different because I'm a relative. That's why I'm just so casual when I'm talking to Mitsuru, Uncle Takeharu, or any of the servants; all that fancy stuff doesn't feel right to me."

Naruto then looked at Fuuka with a playful smirk and said, "Your hair's really nice since it frames that cute face of yours."

The young girl blush brightly as she thought, _He said I'm cute! What do I do!? What do I do!?_

"I…uh…" Fuuka said as she stumbled on her words, "Thanks. You're really handsome as well with those whisker marks on your face."

"Thanks," Naruto said with a nervous chuckle, "although to be honest, these things get me into trouble with my fan club."

"Fan club?" Fuuka asked with a small hint of disappointment.

"Yeah," Naruto said as he leaned back in the seat with his arms behind his head, "one look and they just swoon into each other's arms. I'd hate to imagine if they ever saw me shirtless."

A sudden bump from a random person caused Fuuka to fall into Naruto's chest while said blond's arms suddenly found themselves around the young girl. Looking at each other, the two of them felt warmth crawling up onto their faces as they saw a blush form on their cheeks.

_Holy crap!_ Naruto thought as he looked in Fuuka's eyes as they shone with wonder, _She's…beautiful!_

_Oh my god!_ Fuuka thought as she got lost in Naruto's shining blue eyes, _His eyes are like looking at a sea of sapphires!_

_*ding!*_

The monorail's bell snapped the two out of their thoughts as they let go of each other and stood up to leave the train. They both remained silent as their minds were still on that little accident.

***Iwatodai Station***

The duo had finally made it to the bottom of the stairs as Naruto nervously asked, "Do…Do you want something t-to eat…Fuuka-chan?"

"I'm alright." Fuuka answered quickly as a bright blush was on her face, "I…I just remembered that I had to…go…get stuff as my mother was going to make dinner tonight. Yeah! She would be really mad if we had to eat out again."

Naruto watched the baby blue-haired girl leave just as quickly and awkwardly before heading towards the dorm himself.

_What the freaking hell was THAT!?_ Naruto asked himself as he still felt odd at how he and Fuuka were looking at each other back on the monorail, _That little accident…that small bump…What in Kami's name was that!?_

_*klong!*_

The blond stumbled back and held his throbbing face as he looked to see that he had just walked right into a lamppost.

"Smooth, Namikaze," Naruto scolded himself as he lightly shook the cobwebs out of his head, "real smooth."

Naruto continued to walk towards the dorm, avoiding any more lampposts or metal poles, while he still couldn't help but think about his cute classmate.

_Her hair really brings out her beautiful eyes…_

***Dorm***

Naruto, now sporting a bandage over the bridge of his nose, was in his room looking over his studies when Kichi got up from her bed and jumped onto Naruto's.

"You know you're not supposed to be on the beds, Kichi." Naruto said bluntly without even looking up from the textbook.

"Oh please Kit," Kichi said she placed her front paws on the bed post near the desk, "I know when something's on your mind and I know you didn't get that bandage because you wanted to look tough."

Naruto growled a bit as he then said, "I walked into a metal pole while…"

The blond mumbled the rest as Kichi's ear twitched, getting some of what was said.

"What was that last part Kit?" the fox teased with a smirk on her face, "You mumbled that last bit. I think I heard…"

"I was thinking about a girl, alright!" Naruto angrily said as he forcefully leaned back on his chair and looked away from both the book on the desk and Kichi.

"Ooh I knew my little kit had his eyes on a future mate!" Kichi sung as she sat back down on the bed, "So when am I getting grandkits?"

"K-Kichi!" Naruto said as his attitude quickly shifted from anger to embarrassment, "That's a bit too soon a-a-and it was just an accident that caused Fuuka-chan and I to fall into each other's arms on the monorail!"

"Ah, young love." Kichi sighed as she smiled dreamily, "oh how I envy my own Kit for finding his princess. Oh I would have loved to meet my own Prince Charming…"

Naruto then saw the fox's face take on a darker tone as Kichi then said, "…if it wasn't for that manipulative asshole and his god-complex!"

Naruto went back to his studies until Kichi said, "I think something's coming Kit."

Naruto closed the book as he asked, "What do you mean?"

"You had to have felt it," Kichi said as she decided to jump on the desk with cat-like agility as to prevent knocking anything down, "especially on _that_ night when Minato and Kotone had first awakened their Personas."

"You mean that funny feeling?" Naruto asked as he had forgotten about it until the fox brought it up.

"Yes." Kichi plainly said as she sat down, "I think something might happen soon…but I can't tell just what it is."

"Maybe it's just coincidence?" Naruto asked with a questioning look on his face.

"Coincidences do not allow ordinary HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS to summon death gods on the first go!" Kichi said as her fur briefly bristled before she calmed down, "No one ever just does that right after awakening their power, it doesn't really work like that."

Looking at the time, Naruto got up from his desk and said, "Who knows what this is really about, but I think we should get some rest. Might have to pay a visit to Tartarus later in the week as Yukari wasn't feeling too well. Good night Kichi."

Naruto stripped down to his boxers and got under his covers after turning the lights off while Kichi remained on the desk as she watched the young teen turn in for the night.

She waited until she heard the blond beginning to snore, signaling that he was deeply asleep.

Kichi jumped down onto the floor from the desk before jumping back onto the bed and walked towards Naruto's face. Once near the blond's sleeping face, the fox gently rubbed the side of her head against Naruto's whiskered cheek before giving it a small lick.

"Good night," said Kichi as she turned and jumped off the bed before laying down on her little bed next to the television stand, "my little kit."

11:59.57

11:59.58

11:59.59

12:00.00

**[Dark Hour]**

A few days had passed as Mitsuru was in the command room tinkering with some of the equipment that was provided to help with her supportive powers. Her face was solemn as she let out an agitated sigh.

"Still messing with that thing?" said a voice as Mitsuru looked up to see Naruto in his school uniform after Kendo practice with Akihiko following him, "Why not get some rest."

"I could say the same to you, Namikaze." Mitsuru countered as she looked at the small box before her, "You never know when the enemy might appear."

"I thought you couldn't scan outside Tartarus?" Akihiko asked with a confused look on his face.

Mitsuru delicately grabbed her arms and said, "To be honest…I lack the power. Maybe this is the best Penthesilea can do in terms of gathering data."

"Maybe…" Naruto said as he crossed his arms, "The power of Persona is much more broader than what anyone could imagine. Counting myself, we have three people who can change Personas at any given time and while mine is limited to Jinn, Titan, and Phoenix, Minato and Kotone both have much more power than even I could imagine."

"There's something special about those two," Mitsuru said to herself, "and it hasn't been long since they both awakened their power and look at how much stronger Arisato and Shione have grown!"

"I'll admit that I was surprised as well," Akihiko said with a smirk, "but it'll be up to them if they reach their full potential."

_I can only wonder just HOW strong those two will get,_ Naruto thought to himself as his cousin went to work on the device before something had alarmed her.

Mitsuru looked at the device and said, "It's a Shadow!"

"What!?" both Naruto and Akihiko said as they rushed towards the young woman.

"Something's not right…" Mitsuru said as she carefully examined the evidence, "the reading is too big…"

Naruto had a gut feeling about what this could be as he had that strange feeling all day…that same strange feeling when Minato and Kotone had first awakened their power.

"It's one of those!?" Akihiko asked before receiving a nod from Mitsuru, causing a smirk to form on the boxer's face, "Well then, this is gonna be fun!"

"I'll wake the others." Naruto said as he approached the console and pressed the alarm, causing a loud and obnoxious sound to blare out through the dorm.

A few minutes had passed until Minato, Yukari, Junpei, and Kotone entered with Kichi following them before the fox ran towards Naruto.

"We're here!" Yukari said as she and the others were wearing their school clothes and gear.

Junpei tightened his fist and entered into a stance as he said, "Where is it! I'll rip it a new one!"

"Easy there Junpei," Naruto said as he held up a hand, "no need to go all gung-ho right from the get-go."

Mitsuru looked at the team as she said, "We've detected a Shadow outside Tartarus. We're unsure about it, but we believe it to be a big one."

"Big one or not," Naruto interjected with a serious tone, "any Shadows outside Tartarus must be dealt with as soon as possible. No one, save for our group and a rare few, know about the Dark Hour and if anything happens to the city during it, there will be mass chaos and confusion."

"That must be avoided at all costs." Mitsuru said with a heavy feeling of reality hanging in the air.

"In other words…" Junpei said with a smirk as he pounded a fist into his hand, "we need to kick some ass!"

_Reckless idiot,_ Naruto thought with a slight scowl on his face, _doesn't even understand the amount of danger the city is in each night. But then again…_

The blond couldn't help but think back to how he had acted back in Konoha; Naruto would just dive head first into any possible danger to not just himself, but to others, thinking that he could handle anything thrown at him.

Of course that was then…

"Don't worry Kit," Kichi said as she approached Naruto, "I'm sure that he'll get that wake-up slap soon."

_Better sooner than when others are dead,_ Naruto thought as he and Kichi left with the rookies while Mitsuru went to get her support gear ready.

***Iwatodai Station***

Yukari, Kotone, Minato, and Junpei were waiting at the stairs while Naruto was looking towards the inoperable escalators.

"Where is she?" Yukari asked with an uncomfortable look on her face.

"She'll be here soon." Naruto said as Kichi climbed down the stairs and walked towards the blond, just in time for Mitsuru to arrive on her motorcycle.

"I sniffed out the area to find a group of Shadows near the train." the fox said as she sat down, "I'd bet a tail that they planned an ambush."

"What do you mean 'planned'?" Naruto asked with an eyebrow raised, "I thought Shadows acted out on instinct."

"That's because something is somehow guiding them." Kichi said as Mitsuru went over a few details with the rookies, "_What_ is guiding them, I'm unsure, but I was able to get a scent on a larger and stronger Shadow that seems to stand out like the others…an Alpha Shadow you could call it."

"You mean something like a wolf pack?" the blond asked, receiving a nod from the fox, "How does that even work?"

"One can only theorize it," Kichi said as she moved her tail to the side, "but it could be that the weaker Shadows are being commanded by the larger Shadow due to just how strong it is. I wouldn't be surprised if the stronger Shadow even had a subconscious of its own and could talk like you and I."

Seeing the rookies head toward him, Naruto was about to join them when Mitsuru said, "Let them go on their own this time."

"I'm not sure if that's wise cousin." Naruto said as he turned to face his red-haired cousin, "I had Kichi take a look around and there's more than one Shadow. They're smaller Shadows, but they're acting oddly…like that larger Shadow you detected is leading them."

Mitsuru let out a small hum in thought before she said, "In any case, I think that they could use some experience on their own and if there are other Shadows around, you can defend me as I will be unable to support them while fighting off any Shadows that decide to target me."

Letting out a sigh, Naruto reluctantly nodded in agreement as no one else could provide support if Mitsuru was unable to. He didn't like it as the rookies were still too green despite some of the stronger Shadows they had faced in Tartarus, but what good is a combat team if you have no one to provide support?

"If it makes you feel better," Kichi said as she stood up on her paws, "I can go with them Kit."

"No Kichi," Naruto said as he kneeled down and rubbed the side of the vixen's head behind her left ear, "you're too important to me and I'm not willing to give you up just yet."

_Nor would you be able to,_ Kichi thought as Mitsuru summoned her Persona in order to support the rookies.

A few minutes had passed as Naruto was getting a bit impatient and concerned with how things were going at the moment.

"They just made it on the train." Mitsuru said as her voice broke the silence, "There are some cars between them and that larger Shadow."

"I still think that I should have gone with them…" Naruto mumbled beneath his breath until a small commotion was heard over the radio.

"What's wrong?" Mitsuru asked with professional concern, "What happened?"

Yukari's voice came over the radio as the girl said, "It looks like we're trapped inside…"

"It must be the Shadow," the red-haired woman said, ignoring a threatening glare from her cousin, "it knows you're there. Be ready for anything! Proceed with extreme caution!"

A quick acknowledging word from Yukari echoed from the radio as Mitsuru then faced Naruto, who had his arms crossed as his still hat that same glare on his face.

"I told you that I should have gone with them!" Naruto said before he and Kichi turned around towards the stairs, "Now I'm going to go save their asses before…"

A small group of four Shadows poured from the stairs and surrounded the trio and began to move around them like predators.

"…something like this happens." Naruto said as he pulled out his katana while Mitsuru pulled out a rapier as she got into a fencing stance.

A scale-shaped Shadow started the attack by jumping into the air and charged towards Mitsuru, but it was quickly deflected skillfully by said young woman. Another Shadow, shaped like a table, then tried to attack the Kirijo woman, but was intercepted by Naruto with a powerful katana slash. The blond then slashed at the scale-shaped Shadow with a combo that started with an overhead swing that led into a horizontal slash and finished when Naruto leapt into the air with a twist before slicing the Shadow vertically in half.

"One down…" Naruto said a Mitsuru easily destroyed another scale-shaped Shadow without much difficulties until a startled sound erupted from the radio.

"Namikaze!" Mitsuru called out as she summoned her Persona, right when the table-shaped Shadow charged towards her.

"On it!" Naruto said as he quickly got in the path of the Shadow and blocked its attack and pushed it back.

Pulling out his Evoker, the blond pulled the trigger as he called out, "Persona: Phoenix!"

_*BANG! shatter!*_

The gunshot echoed as a large bird with fiery red and orange feathers appeared above Naruto and Mitsuru.

"Agilao!" the blond called out as Phoenix drew its wings back with flames gathering around them before giving them a mighty heave. The flames flew towards the table-shaped Shadow and easily destroyed it.

"This is bad…" Mitsuru said as Naruto destroyed another attacking Shadow with a combo attack, "…the Shadow has taken fully control over the monorail and has set it in motion!"

"WHAT!?" Naruto yelled out at the speculation, "If that thing's on the move, it will collide into another train and kill not only Yukari, Junpei, Minato, and Kotone, but many others as well! We need to get our asses moving!"

Before another step was taken, more Shadows appeared right at the stairs in order to intercept the group.

"Fucking shit!" Naruto cursed out with a stomp before one of the scale-shaped Shadows charged him.

Clutching his hand into a fist tightly, causing a small crack to be heard from his knuckles, Naruto charged towards the Shadow and gave it a mighty bone-shattering punch as he said, "Get the FUCK out of MY way!"

The blond's punch had hit the Shadow in the mask before the force of the punch had launched it into the group of Shadows, impaling a few of them along the way and caused them to vanish into a black mist before vanishing itself. A Shadow with long flowing black hair wearing what looked like a small crown or tiara then charged towards the blond along with a table-shaped Shadow, but Naruto just grabbed the tiara-like Shadow and slammed it against the other Shadow.

"Naruto, calm down!" Kichi barked out as she hopped on the blond's shoulder.

"I told Mitsuru about a possible ambush on the rookies and what does she do?" Naruto angrily whispered as he defeated another Shadow with a sword combo, "She makes me stay here wanting to take the training wheels off before those guys were even ready!"

"I know Kit, but this is a REAL mission outside of Tartarus!" the vixen said as she gave a Shadow a dropkick before jumping back to Naruto, "We can't hold their hands all the time so they need to experience a rush of possible death in order to be aware of what could happen!"

Naruto cringed as he had Phoenix destroy the last Shadow with a powerful gust of wind before he said, "You're right Kichi, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I need to have more faith in them as I'm sure Minato and Kotone have everything under control."

***Monorail***

The rookies were facing down a powerful Shadow that took on the form of a young woman with long parchment-like hair that covered nearly all of the first car wearing a long baby blue skirt and a pinkish-red butterfly-shaped mask. Her skin color was actually divided vertically with her right side being black as night while her left side was snow white with the letters 'B' and 'J' on her exposed breasts.

"Alright we got her on the ropes!" Kotone said as she and the others were breathing heavily from having to not only fight her, but the smaller Shadows that it was summoning.

"This would have been a helluva lot easier if Naruto was here!" Yukari said as she summoned her Persona, Io, to hit the Shadow with a wind attack.

Minato quickly summoned Orpheus and used a fire attack on the large Shadow before he said, "We need to keep our heads in the battle as we can't afford to hesitate!"

**"****Wisely spoken for a Fool,"** said the Shadow with a playful smirk on her face, **"but why think when you can just act!"**

Minato and Kotone jumped back in time as the Shadow unceremoniously slammed her hand on the floor. Yukari and Junpei weren't as lucky as they were soon entangled against the wall by the parchment-like hair.

**"****If you are wondering how I was able to get the train to move, the answer is really just simple,"** the Shadow said playfully, **"I just messed around with the controls, pressing and pulling random crap on them. Now then…any last words?"**

"Yeah…" Minato said as he gave Kotone a look before the two of them stood confidently with their Evokers pointed at their heads.

_*BANG! shatter!*_

Orpheus and Siren appeared above Minato and Kotone as the two then said, "Battle Concerto!"

Orpheus pulled out his lute and began to play at a powerful and upbeat tone while the speaker on his mechanical stomach blasted out war-like beats. Siren adjusted the microphone on her headset as she began to sing a fast paced song in an archaic language unknown to man. The sounds echoed out through the car while an invigorating rush of energy entered the SEES members' bodies.

"Alright!" Junpei called out as the rush of power had allowed him to tear the parchment-like hair of himself and Yukari, "A second wind!"

The reinvigorated team then turned their attention back onto the Shadow as Yukari drew her bow back with an arrow nocked.

**"****I don't think so!"** the Shadow roared out as it summoned two more Shadows that charged towards the girl, but they were intercepted by Junpei and Minato.

"Here goes!" Yukari said as she let the bow string go, sending the arrow flying straight towards the Shadow's face.

_*shhhhhhwip!*_

The Shadow had somehow caught Yukari's arrow and began to playfully twirl it like a baton as she said, **"You think I wouldn't know how to catch, let alone dodge an arrow, did y-"**

_*skwelch!*_

**"****Ugh!"** the Shadow choked out as black ichor was spat from her mouth. The humanoid looked down to see Kotone with her naginata stabbed right into its chest as the black ichor dripped from the blade and stained the blue skirt below.

"Next time…" Kotone said with a smirk of her own, "…don't leave yourself so exposed; it sets a bad example for us decent girls."

The young girl pulled the naginata from the Shadow's chest, causing black ichor to spray about, before going into a twist and decapitated the humanoid creature.

**"****Lord Death…"** the Shadow weakly said as it was slowly vanishing into a black mist, **"…I'm…coming for…you…"**

The Shadow had fully dissolved into black mist as Junpei held a fist in the air in victory as he said, "Alright! We won! We freakin' did it!"

"Yeah…" Yukari said as she then pointed out one other detail that the hat wearing teen had forgotten, "…but we're still moving!"

Reality suddenly sank in as both Junpei and Yukari suddenly screamed in pure fright and panic, holding each other for dear life.

"What are you waiting for!?" Mitsuru asked in urgency from the radio.

"THERE'S A FUCKING TRAIN AHEAD OF YOU!" Naruto's voice roared out as Junpei and Yukari were still screaming for dear life until Minato and Kotone ran into the conductor's car.

_*screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!*_

Junpei and Yukari were still screaming until the young girl in pink opened her eyes and noticed that the train had somehow stopped and they were alive.

"Junpei. Junpei." Yukari said as she tried to get said teen's attention before…

_*SMACK!*_

"Junpei!" Yukari roared out as said teen had let go of her in favor of holding his now reddened cheek, "The train had stopped!"

The teen blinked a few times before a large, beaming smile formed on his face like a small child seeing a mountain of toys on Christmas Day.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Freaking YES!" the teen cheered as he jumped for joy before posing in an obscene gesture, "Suck it death!"

The moment had passed as Junpei suddenly fell on the floor, passed out and frothing from the mouth as the adrenaline rush left him while Minato and Kotone left the conductor's car.

"How did you two know what to do?" Yukari asked the duo as Minato hefted the unconscious Junpei onto his shoulder.

"Instinct." both Minato and Kotone answered in unison.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Yukari then said, "That's twice you both saved me again. Now can we get out of here, this train's giving me the creeps."

***Iwatodai Station***

The rookies had managed to make it back to the station after a long trek across the track with Junpei still slung over Minato's shoulder.

"Very good job at destroying the Shadow and preventing a collision." Mitsuru said as she and Naruto approached the rookies before the young woman noticed the unconscious teen, "What happened to Iori?"

"He's just passed out Senpai." Yukari answered with a pained chuckled, "In fact, I'm pretty sore myself as each step felt like walking on needles."

"Probably because of mine and Mina-kun's combo, Battle Concerto." Kotone said as her body was also sore, "The music from Orpheus and Siren had given us a powerful boost…but it didn't last long and we're feeling flayed right now."

"You both had a combo like that?" Naruto asked as he had never seen the duo perform the combo during their trips to Tartarus, "How did you know it would work?"

"Spur of the moment." Minato and Kotone answered at the same time, causing Naruto to sweat drop at the answer.

_Again with the Psychic Twin thing?_ Kichi thought with a deadpanned look on her face, _Is this going to be a running gag or something? They're not even related!_

"Anyway," Naruto said as he looked at the rookies and saw the state that they were in, "seeing how your bodies reacted to that combo, I'm only going to suggest that Battle Concerto is to be used in emergency situations like tonight was. Now let's get back to the dorm as I'm sure we all could use a little rest after everything that has happened tonight."

"I couldn't agree more, Kit." Kichi said as she and the rest of SEES headed towards the dorm with Naruto helping Minato with carrying Junpei. However, the vixen's mind became heavy as something had been plaguing her thoughts since the night Minato and Kotone had awakened their powers.

_What's going on here?_

**Will Kichi's question be answered as SEES continue to fight the Shadows? What awaits the group down the road?**

**Now to answer a couple of questions that you might be thinking of...**

**I added that bit about the Alpha Shadow as if you look back at the game, Mitsuru only mentions a really big Shadow and not any of the weaker ones. How did the team exactly get ambushed if only one Shadow was detected? With what Kichi explained about the Alpha Shadow is what I'd like to believe how the ambush on the train happened. Sometimes you focus all of your attention on the larger threat that you really don't see the smaller threats building up against you.**

**As for Naruto's little power boost, I'm leaving that a secret but there will be hints throughout as to why this is possible if Naruto's chakra was sealed. I'll go ahead and tell you that unless Naruto's not at school or it's during the Dark Hour, Kichi will never leave the blond's side.**

**Don't forget to rate and review!**

**Ja ne.**


	6. Chapter 5

**I do not own Naruto or the Persona Series.**

"Persona!" normal speech

_"Persona!"_ thought/mind speak

**"Persona!"** Demon/Shadow speak

Chapter V

***Gekkoukan High***

Naruto was in the library as exams were coming up and he knew some of the topics…but he still struggles with a few topics like science.

"Wish Fuuka-chan was around," the blond whispered to himself as he looked over some of notes he had taken during history class, "I'm sure she wouldn't mind having a study partner."

Thinking about the young girl, Naruto had noticed that she wasn't around as much. It had brought concern to him as the blond had heard many rumors about bullying and it really burned him.

…and unfortunately a few of his fan girls were also bullies.

_How can they call themselves my 'fans' if they do one of the things that I despise?_ Naruto asked himself as he began to tap the eraser end of his pencil on the table, _I never asked for fan girls, but Kami could they at least be more…I don't know…civil or nicer maybe?_

Seeing how he wasn't getting much focus on his studies due to his new chain of thought, Naruto closed his textbook and said, "Screw it, I can't study like this…maybe some ramen after school might help."

Gathering his things, something had alerted Naruto and the blond turned around to try and catch whatever had caught his attention, but he only saw some of the other students who were either studying or just looking for what they needed or wanted.

"Damn paranoia…" Naruto growled out as he left the library, unaware of a group of eyes that were watching him.

"He's so dreamy…" said one of the girls with a love struck smile on her face.

"I know…" said another girl as her mouth began to drool, "I really wish to see him shirtless, but no one has ever seen him without his shirt."

"I heard that Natsuki and a couple other girls have been taking care of that one girl!" another girl whispered excitedly, "Now we have a straight shot with Naruto-kun with that little brat out of the way!"

The trio giggled to themselves before deciding to meet up with the other members of the Namikaze Fan Club and try to get a picture of their idol shirtless.

***Dorm***

After school had ended, Naruto had just entered the dorm when Mitsuru had approached him as Kichi was nowhere to be seen.

"Sup Cuz?" the blond asked as he rolled the shoulder where his duffle bag was hanging from.

"Some of the equipment in the meeting room seems to be malfunctioning," Mitsuru said with her usual professional tone in her voice, "I was going to ask Arisato-san to take a look, but he told me that he was busy tonight."

"I guess I could take a look at it," Naruto said nonchalantly, "I needed a break from studying anyway. By the way, where's Kichi?"

"Shione-san took her to her room." Mitsuru answered with an odd look on her face, "She said something about having a fashion show with Kichi."

Naruto had to suppress a chuckle as images of the fox in different dresses and embarrassing outfits popped into his mind and all he could think of at the moment was that he had to get pictures.

"I'll go ahead and go check on the equipment," Naruto said with a stoic tone, "I'm sure Kichi and Kotone will be alright."

The Kirijo woman watch as her cousin traveled up the stairs in a slight hurry before lightly shaking her head at Naruto's odd behavior.

Once Naruto made it to the girl's floor, the door to Kotone's room opened as a blur of red and pink sped out to reveal Kichi wearing…a frilly, pink princess dress with sparkling fairy wings.

"Get me outta this DAMN, DISGUSTING DRESS!" Kichi shouted as tried to shake the dress off, causing glitter to dance in the air, "I'm getting glitter in my fur and I am not supposed to glitter like an overly sexualized vampire!"

"Kichi stop!" Kotone cried out as the vixen was now trying to rub the dress off through the floor, "You can't be the good witch from my favorite movie without your pretty dress!"

"I'm sorry Kotone-chan, hehehe!" Naruto said as he laughed at the vixen's misfortune, "but Kichi...heeheehee...Kichi isn't much of a fan of dress-up! HAHAHA!"

"NOT FUNNY KIT!" Kichi roared out as she got to her paws and glared at the laughing blond before trying to shake the dress and glitter off, "NOW GET ME OUT OF THIS!"

"Alright, alright, I'll get you out." Naruto said as he calmed his laughter, "Come here…Glinda, hehe!"

The blond kneeled down as Kichi rushed towards him and sat down on her haunches. After feeling around on the back of the dress, Naruto found the zipper and carefully unzipped the dress before moving the dress around so that Kichi could jump out and shake some of the glitter out of her fur.

"Naru-kun…" Kotone whined as she held up a few small costumes and dresses, "I still have cute little outfits for her to try out."

"Don't worry Kotone-chan," Naruto said as he got to his feet, "I don't mind ya dressing Kichi up…just don't put anything in her fur as she's very prideful of it."

"YA DAMN RIGHT I AM!" Kichi roared out before trying to shake more glitter off her fur, "AND I'M EXPECTING YOU TO BRUSH THIS CRAP OUT!"

"Okay, Kichi, okay," Naruto said as he pulled out a small brush out of his pocket that he had gotten from his room, "I'll brush ya while I'm checking on some of the equipment upstairs."

The vixen mumbled something under her breath before walking up to the command, still trying to shake some of the glitter that got on her paws.

"I better go ahead and go check on the equipment," Naruto said with an embarrassed chuckle, "Mitsuru did say that it was malfunctioning a bit and we couldn't have it messing up on key missions. You have a good evening, Kotone-chan."

"You too!" Kotone said as she walked downstairs, ignorant of some of the glitter on her hands and skirt.

Naruto chuckled at the amount of energy the girl had and couldn't help but see her as a bit of a sister. Kotone's good nature and high spirits were pretty infectious that could even cause the coldest of people would laugh if she was ever around.

_Kotone-chan is really something,_ Naruto thought as he soon traveled up the stairs towards the command room, _She really brings a smile to anyone's heart._

Once in the command room, Naruto was brushing some of the shining glitter that was still stuck in Kichi's fur as he looked over the console.

"Now let's see what's wrong with this thing." Naruto said as he placed the brush nearby and let Kichi jump down onto the floor.

A flashing light had alerted the blond to something on the system and Naruto pressed a few buttons to find that something had been recorded through the cameras.

"This is from a couple days ago…" Naruto said as he saw the date on one of the small screens.

The screen then revealed Ikutsuki inside the command room, looking over some papers that were presented to him.

The Chairman hummed a bit before he said, "A Shadow in the middle of town…It managed to take over public transportation. I should investigate whether this means it's finally begun…"

Ikutsuki leaned back in thought as he then said, "Monorail…Listen to the monorail in monaural."

Naruto and Kichi had deadpanned looks on their faces while the Chairman laughed at his own joke.

"I must make a note of that one!" Ikutsuki said before he cleared his throat and went back to looking at the papers, "Luck played an uncomfortably large part in the victory, especially towards the end. If they hadn't guessed at the right controls, thing could have been very bad."

"He could say that again…" Naruto commented as he had nearly flipped that night when Mitsuru had made him stay behind.

"Kichi had managed to sense the many Shadows in the area and for them to work in a group to overrun large machines is unprecedented." Ikutsuki said until a smirk formed on his face, "The engine…"

_Don't tell me…_Naruto thought as he had a gut feeling about that look on the Chairman's face.

"That was an _engine_-ous move!" Ikutsuki said as he began to laugh again, "Better write that one down too!"

"Oh gag me…" Kichi said as she licked her paw and went to grooming herself, "His horrible jokes should be illegal or used as a torture method."

"One should always wear bright clothing at night…" Ikutsuki then said with a smile on his face, "Otherwise, the Shadows could make it dangerous to walk near traffic!"

Naruto quickly sped through the rest of the recording as he couldn't take the lousy jokes anymore as he then said, "I think I would have given myself a concussion if I hear any more of the Chairman's crappy jokes."

The blond then decided to try and see what some of the other buttons do and saw that certain buttons were connected to other cameras that were installed throughout the dorm. Other buttons brought up the different functions of the equipment like records of the different Shadows that the team had faced and the information of each member and their respective Personas.

"Seems like you found everyone's records," Kichi noted after jumping onto the console and looking at the screen.

"But I'm not finding mine…" Naruto noted until he saw Kichi looking at some of the buttons, "K-Kichi, get off!"

"Sheesh!" the vixen said as she jumped down onto the floor, "Just trying to find something that could help."

Naruto thought for a moment before he pressed a few buttons to see what would happen. A small box appeared on the screen to let the blond know that whatever he had tried to do wasn't available at the time. Naruto hit the escape key to close the box before trying a different combination of buttons.

"GAH!" the blond cried out as the screen revealed the inside of Mitsuru's room with said person undressing.

Naruto quickly pressed the escape key once more before shutting the screen off, heart racing and face completely beat red.

"What's wrong!?" Kichi said as she got on her hind paws and placed her front paws on the blond's hip, "You found a virus!?"

"No…" Naruto said as his red face was soon pale, "I just brought up the camera for Mitsuru's room and saw something that I shouldn't see."

"What is it?" Kichi asked with slight fear on her face, "A huge rat? An intruder? A dead body?"

"…my cousin…" Naruto said as he wish there was some bleach for his eyes nearby, "…half-naked…wearing satin red underwear…"

_Seriously Kit?_ Kichi thought as she sat down on her haunches with a deadpanned look, _Just for a slip up like that?_

"I…" Naruto said as he tried to get the image of what he had saw out of his mind, "I think that we've done enough for now…"

Kichi watched as Naruto stood up and began to walk out of the command room before rolling her eyes.

_This is the same guy who made a jutsu that turns him into a naked girl?_ the vixen thought to herself with a slight chuckle in her tone as she then followed the blond out the room. She wasn't going to let the blond live that down for a while…

***Gekkoukan High***

Time had passed as Naruto stood up from his desk and stretched as the exams were over for now.

_How I managed to go through the exams after those nights at Tartarus,_ the blond thought as he stretched his back as a few, slightly audible cracks were heard, _Now all that's left is to wait and see how my activities have affected my grades._

Naruto knew that the average high school student that was involve in at least one afterschool activity, especially any form of sports, would have difficulties balancing academics, school activities, and teenage life. It was always different when it comes to the members of SEES considering some of the serious injuries that healing skills take care of. While Akihiko's injury was able to be covered with a training accident, but that could never cover ALL of the injuries taken such as burns, electrical shock, or signs of exposure of extreme cold.

Then there's the underlying injuries that not even Dia or Diarama could heal as some of those Shadows can not only deliver a hit, but toss one around like a sack of laundry. It was those kinds of fights that really made the blond wonder if there isn't a way to build equipment those who have conditioned their bodies for their entire lives and were experienced to combat along with the possibility of losing their comrades on top of already existing scars.

SEES needed the power similar to the military, not a bunch of high schoolers…

"Yo, Naruto!" said a familiar voice as said blond slightly jumped out of his thoughts, "Bet your excited!"

"'bout what?" Naruto asked as he saw Junpei with a smile on his face with the other SEES Rookies next to him.

"About Akihiko-senpai coming back in the fight!" the hat wearing teen said with an excited smirk on his face, "Now we can really take Tartarus down!"

Naruto gave Junpei a deadpanned look as he then said, "You bombed the exams didn't you?"

The teen in question stayed silent until he hung his head in defeat, signaling that Naruto was indeed right.

"You really need to focus on your studies…" the blond said as he planted his face into his palm, "The number of Lost had gone down since _that_ night and it's not EVERY night that Shadows would wander outside of Tartarus. If I know my cousin, she would fillet you like a salmon for slacking off on your studies."

"But if we weren't fighting them, then this whole place goes to chaos!" Yukari said with an uneasy tone before she lightly shook her head, "But that's beside the point, Akihiko-senpai's all better and he'll be a great addition."

Naruto shrugged his shoulder as that was good news considering the skills that Akihiko's Persona, Polydueces, has. Electricity skills, healing, and status lowering skills to boot, Akihiko was the best combat-supporter on the team as he can treat some wounds while dishing out some of his own.

_That is if he doesn't get himself killed or maimed again,_ Naruto thought as he wonders just _what_ drives Akihiko to jump head first into a battle while he and the rookies were heading off towards the dorm for tonight's possible plans.

***Dorm***

The rookies and Naruto were sitting around the table in the dining area with Akihiko sitting in the center.

"Senpai's back!" Yukari cheered with a smile on her face.

Akihiko confidently smirked as he said, "That's right and I'm raring for battle!"

"That is if you don't reopen the scar…" Naruto mumbled to himself at the boxer's enthusiasm.

"I've been slacking off for a whole month," Akihiko said as he sent a sharp glare towards the blond, "so I need to get back into fighting shape."

"And tonight's the night!" Junpei said with excitement in his voice.

"Too bad that we may not be able to recruit another Persona user." Akihiko said as everyone's attention was all on him.

"What do you mean, Senpai?" Minato asked with slight wonder in his voice at a possible new member in SEES.

"I met her at the hospital during one of my checkups," Akihiko explained as he crossed his arms in thought, "that's how we also discovered how she has the potential."

"She?" Naruto asked as it wouldn't hurt to have another girl on the team.

"You might know her, Naruto," Akihiko said as he looked at said blond, "Fuuka Yamagishi."

"Fuuka-chan!?" Naruto said with pure shock in his voice at just who this candidate was.

"Oh yeah, I heard about her," Yukari said with realization in her voice, "I heard that she gets sick a lot."

Naruto didn't hear the rest as his attention was more towards the possibility of a girl like Fuuka having to deal with Shadows; she looked too delicate and fragile to handle combat.

"However," Akihiko said with a slight cringe on his face, "I don't think that she would be suited for battle."

Everyone was disheartened about not having a new member…everyone but Naruto that is.

_While we could have used another member on the team,_ Naruto thought as a part of him was disheartened about not getting a new Persona user,_ but thank Kami someone as fragile as Fuuka wouldn't be involved with what SEES really does._

"Well…" Akihiko said as he stood up from his seat with a confident look on his face, "…time for some training!"

11:59.57

11:59.58

11:59.59

12:00.00

**[Dark Hour]**

***Tartarus; Entrance***

Everyone stood near the stairs as Mitsuru and Akihiko stood professionally with the others surrounding them.

"As you have found out," Mitsuru began as she looked at everyone, "Akihiko has made a full recovery since the attack on the dorm a couple months back. Now that he is back, I believe that Arisato-san and Shiome-san should remain as leaders as I will allow them to choose whom they take with them due to our numbers. I will also allow them to choose which of them leads which team they form, but you must still exercise and watch your health."

"So are we still doing teams of five?" Junpei asked as he looked at the numbers.

"Not exactly." Naruto said as everyone turned their attention onto him, "Each team will be constructed by how Minato or Kotone see fit, and I will always act as the backup so that if anyone needs to jump out, I will jump in where needed. I have a few tricks up my sleeves that should help if things get dicey."

_You'd have more tricks if your chakra wasn't sealed,_ Kichi thought to herself as Kotone had built his team consisting of Akihiko and Naruto before she followed the blond to the warp device, _but sometimes life's not _that_ generous._

***Tartarus; Arqa***

Kotone's team had entered the new block after the barrier on the previous floor had vanished.

_This reminds me of something out of that old sci-fi video game I once played,_ Naruto thought to himself as he looked around the new area they were in.

The previous area just looked like a set from a horror movie set right in their school with odd twists and turns here and there. This area however was different as the walls almost looked like flesh with the floors looking like something out of a stone walkway or hospital. The occasional giant human face protruding out of the wall along with blood on the wall and floors didn't help ease the sense of dread in the air.

_Look at all of this purple,_ Kichi noted as she followed the team through the place while glancing at the creepy décor, _talk about nightmare material._

"Back on the field," Akihiko said with an excited smirk on his face as he tightened his fists underneath the spiked gloves he wore over his hands.

"Don't forget that _we've_ never been _this_ far inside Tartarus before the Rookies arrived," Naruto said as he glanced over towards the boxer, "who knows what awaits us."

"Like those guys?" Kotone asked as two Shadows in the form of slender humanoids that wore raggedy cloaks and had lanterns in the center of their bodies were just ahead of them.

Without hesitation, Akihiko dashed forward as one of the Shadows brought its hands up and whispered something under its breath. The boxer saw a purplish-black circle form under him and added an extra boost to his dash, just barely avoiding the attack, before giving the Shadow a jaw shattering left hook and jumping back. Akihiko then jumped to the side to avoid a fireball from the other Shadow before pulling out his Evoker and pointed the barrel at his face.

"Polydeuces!" the boxer roared out as he pulled the trigger.

_*BANG! shatter!*_

Kotone watched in amazement as a tall man with long, shining blond hair wearing a blue bodysuit with what looked like padded armor appeared out of thin air. This Persona had a large, syringe-like weapon where his right forearm should have been while the lower half of his face was covered by the bodysuit.

"Sonic Punch!" Akihiko roared out as Polydeuces swiftly dashed towards one of the Shadows and punched it with its syringe arm, effectively knocking the creature down from the amount of force behind the attack.

"Way to go, Aki-senpai!" Kotone cheered as she jumped in glee with Siren clapping for the Persona before her.

"Fight now, admire Pretty Boy later!" Naruto said as he had summoned Jinn who then blasted the other Shadow with a gust of ice.

The girl snapped out of her thoughts as she tightened her grip on the naginata while Siren brought a hand to her headset, both ready to battle.

"Siren!/Jinn!" both Naruto and Kotone called out, "Bufu!/Mabufu!"

The two Personas nodded and launched their own ice storms, with Siren's storm having music notes made of ice flying towards one of the Shadows while Jinn snapped his fingers as icicles were sent flying towards both Shadows. The arctic blasts had hit their marks as one of the Shadows was evaporated into black mist while the other one was badly injured. Before the injured Shadow could counter, Akihiko surprised it with a powerful uppercut just under its mask, obliterating it as the creature vanished into black mist.

"And that's how you do it!" Akihiko said with a confident smirk as he lightly shook the slight discomfort in one of his fists.

"Just don't overdo it…again." Naruto said, getting an annoyed look from the boxer.

Akihiko scoffed at the remark before he and the rest of Kotone's team charged through the floor they were on while fighting through any of the Shadows that had gotten in their way.

***Tartarus; Entrance***

Mitsuru and the other Rookies were lounging around with Minato staring off into space somewhere on the left side of the floor.

"Wonder what's wrong with him…" Yukari said with an uneasy look on her face as she stared at the bluenette.

"Who knows…" Junpei said as he had tried to get Minato's attention a few time when said person was spacing off in that area, "Kotone-chan does the same thing sometimes, even with Minato. But they do seem to get stronger afterwards, so why worry?"

"There _is_ reason to worry, Iori." Mitsuru said as she crossed her arms and stared as said person, "While you are right about Arisato's and Shiome's powers becoming stronger, this kind of ailment can become troubling if it happens during battle; Namikaze had told me about how those two also seem to go into a trance right after certain battles with the Shadows here. While brief, we cannot allow this ailment to become a problem in the long run. As such, I will schedule a trip to the hospital for regular checkups while also having some of the specialized doctors take a look at their psyche in the near future."

A call from the radio had alerted Mitsuru to something going on with Kotone's team and drew her attention onto her supportive abilities, leaving Junpei and Yukari to ponder about their leader.

"Say Yuka-tan…" Junpei asked as he looked at said girl.

"What…" Yukari said with slight annoyance at the nickname the hat wearing teen had given her long ago.

"Is there something going on between you and Naruto?" the young boy asked as he kept his eyes on Minato.

"What do you mean?" the girl asked in confusion, "Naruto and I get along just fine."

"Well…" Junpei said as he tried to find the right words, "I've seen him look at you, or more correctly at your jacket, angrily…I mean if looks could kill, that jacket of your would have been burnt to a crisp a few times."

"Really?" Yukari asked with slight surprised at what was revealed to her, "This is news to me. Why would he hate my jacket? It's not like he plans on wearing it."

"That's because I don't." said a familiar voice, startling both Junpei and Yukari as Naruto suddenly appeared behind them, "It's just that I hate the color pink…just brings bad memories."

"B…Bad memories?" Junpei asked as how could a simple color of a jacket could cause such a reaction, "You mean of a girl?"

"That's for me to know, and you to butt out!" the blond said with a slightly harsh tone in his voice before turning around and walking towards the teleportation device.

"Had to have been a girl," Junpei said as he scowled a bit from Naruto's tone, "No one could ever be _that_ grumpy because of something else."

"He'll tell us when he wants to," Yukari said as Kotone skipped by her and Junpei while Minato, now out of his trance, was walking towards them, "Naruto's always been like that."

She didn't want to reveal it, but ever since she joined SEES, Yukari had kept a close eye on both Mitsuru and Naruto. At first it was because they were in the same family, despite Naruto being the red-haired woman's cousin, but then it was because of their behavior. Those two were hiding something and the two cousins had completely different reactions.

Mitsuru was always secretive and seem to dodge certain questions about SEES, Shadows, and even how the Dark Hour came to be. That woman knew information that could lead Yukari to what she WANTED to know.

Naruto, however, was a different story…

The blond would be in a cheery mood, but then there times when Yukari had seen the same blond turn a whole 180 on his personality. Kotone had revealed that Naruto had told her about some of his past, but the girl wouldn't say anything if Yukari had asked about Naruto's mysterious past.

_Whatever it is you two are hiding…_Yukari thought with narrowed eyes as she followed Minato, Junpei, Akihiko, and Naruto through the teleportation device, _I will get to the bottom of this…I swear on my father's grave._

**What are the secrets that Yukari is trying to find out? The mystery behind both the Dark Hour and Naruto continue to grow as new evidence come into light. Don't forget to rate and review!**

**Ja ne.**


	7. Chapter 6

**I do not own Naruto or the Persona series.**

"Persona!" normal speech

_"Persona!"_ thought/mind speak

**"Persona!"** demon/Shadow speech

Chapter VI

***Gekkoukan High***

Classes have ended as Naruto was in the 'arena' of the gym as he was going up against one of his teammates.

"So Captain," said the young boy as he and Naruto circled each other, "did you hear about that girl they found at the front gates a few days ago?"

The blond let out a mighty roar that followed with the attack, which was swiftly blocked, before he said, "Who hasn't heard of it? I have heard that she was part of a group of bullies who targeted someone. While a part of me _is_ hoping she got her just desserts, I'm mostly concerned about what exactly had happened to her considering what's been going on this past year."

After trying for a swift combo, which was effectively blocked by Naruto, the teammate then said, "I know…I'm wondering if she'll end up like some of those Apathy freaks…like my sister."

"Sorry to hear that man…" Naruto said as he and his opponent stood before each other, waiting for either to make a move, "I can only imagine what the feeling's like considering that I was an orphan until Uncle Takeharu took me in."

The blond swiftly blocked an overhead attack as his opponent then asked, "How is it that you're so casual when it comes to your uncle and Senpai? I've never seen you act like them."

Naruto swiftly moved to the side, causing his opponent to slightly stumble forward, before…

_*swack!*_

The coach called the match as the duo removed their helmets, revealing their damp faces and hair.

"You were focusing on too much power with that last attack which caused you to stumble from how your stance was." Naruto said as he and his teammate went over to the sidelines while two other members of the Kendo Club took their turns, "Now to answer your question, before I had discovered that I was related to the Kirijo group through my mother, I never did show a lot of respect to others, but that was because I was never taught better considering the kind of urchin that others had believed me to be. After Uncle Takeharu took me in, everyone was treating me like royalty…just like how this one teme I knew was treated. After a while, I just told the servants to not give me any special treatment and to address me by my name…I was uncomfortable with being treated like a god. As for Mitsuru and Uncle Takeharu…they're my family and the only family aside from my mother that I know."

"Wow." Naruto's teammate said until a question appeared on his mind, "So what was your mother like?"

"I really don't know, honestly." Naruto answered with slight somber tone, "I sometimes wish that I could have met her or even my aunt."

The young brunette cringed as he then said, "Sorry, man…I didn't know."

"It's alright." the blond said as a small smile formed on his face, "Least I have my uncle and cousin."

***Dorm***

Naruto had just made it back to the dorm after some extra training and a karaoke session to see Yukari working tenaciously at the computer near the front desk.

"What I miss?" Naruto asked Mitsuru as said woman was sitting in the nearby couch with Kichi laying down near her feet.

"Takeba and the others are investigating a supposed rumor involving our school," Mitsuru answered as she turned the page of her book, "and it involves your homeroom."

"Really now?" Naruto said as he took a sip of his Cielo Mist, "I've never heard anything save for that girl they had found. I never listen to rumors as they're just a bunch of bull that constantly changes from one person to another."

"They have until this Friday to find information on this ghost story." Akahiko said as he was looking over a pair of his boxing gloves, "Do you think they'll find anything."

Naruto hummed as he knew someone who could have dirt on possibly anything before he said, "Possibly…either that or they could end up chasing their tails in an endless circle."

"I know who you're thinking about Kit," Kichi said with a content smile on her face, "and I hope he has some of that juicy salmon; he always find the best cuts."

"In any case," Mitsuru said as she marked her place and closed the novel, "it might do some good as the incident could possibly be related to the Shadows. We'll just wait to see what they come up with on their deadline."

_That's not too far away,_ Naruto thought as something was telling him that help might become a must, _I should remind myself to go visit him before something bad happens._

***Gekkoukan High***

Lunch had arrive as Naruto was walking towards his locker for a bloxed lunch he had made the day before, but something has been bugging him fiercely.

Fuuka hasn't been seen in quite a while…

At first Naruto thought it was illness, but when he had asked Fuuka's parents, they has said that she just wasn't around at the moment. But Kichi was with him that day and the vixen revealed that they were hiding something…something important.

_What could it be?_ Naruto thought to himself as he climbed the stair to find Yukari waiting for him.

"Hey Naruto," the girl said as she approached him, "can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure." the bond said with a shrug of his shoulders, "What do you want to talk about?"

"About that ghost story." Yukari answered as she pulled out a notebook that had a web-like diagram written on it, "Do you know anything about the girl found at the school gates?"

"The latest I've heard was that she was part of a group of bullies." Naruto said with a slight scowl on his face, "Probably one of the ones who get a sick kick out of messing with others that are 'smaller' than them or just to fuck with them."

After scribbling something on her notebook, Yukari then asked, "Do you know anything else about her?"

The blond was silent until he remembered something and said, "I do remember her hanging out with my ex-girlfriend, Natsuki."

"Ex-girlfriend?" Yukari asked with slight shock and ponder on her face.

"Yeah, Natsuki Moriyama," Naruto said as he remembered dating said girl, "we have the same class together along with Fuuka-chan. Our relationship was kinda short as we saw that we were more friends than lovers, but I know she's a good person…but she sometimes goes along with the wrong crowd."

Naruto grew bitterly somber as memories of what Sakura had done to him and what she had said when the blond brought Sasuke back…

_Flashback_

**_*Konohagakure; Naruto's Prison Cell*_**

_Naruto was chained to the walls as his chakra was sealed just a day ago by Danzo._

_ "__Why is this happening to me?" Naruto asked himself until he heard the sound of his cell door opening and looked up to see Sakura standing before him._

_Before the blond could say anything, the rosette gave him a sharp and painful punch in the gut as she said, "How could you! You promised me that you would bring Sasuke-kun back and look at him! He's been beaten into a bloody mess because of YOU!"_

_ "__I…" Naruto said as a coppery taste began to form in his mouth, "I had no choice…he wouldn't listen to reason! I honestly tried to-"_

_*POW!*_

_ "__I don't want to hear whatever excuses a _MONSTER_ like you could _ever_ have!" Sakura said after giving the chained blond a jaw shattering punch, "I always knew that you didn't like Sasuke, but I didn't know that it was like THIS! I should had never made that promise to you! I hope I can never see you disgusting face again or hear that vile voice of yours anymore! You can rot in whatever part of Hell you'll be thrown into as I'm sure not even the Devil himself would want a monster like you."_

_After that, Sakura began to ruthlessly beat up the defenseless blond in a blind fury that Naruto had never seen before. He had lost track of time first before blacking out, but when he had regained consciousness, Naruto saw that he was a bloody and broken mess with some of his major injuries healed since was supposed to be executed soon._

They_ didn't want him dying too soon…_

_ "__Naruto…"_

_His name echoed through the halls as his vision was becoming fuzzy…_

_ "__Naruto-kun, are you alright!?"_

_A sharp pain entered his chest where his scar was as he couldn't reach for it due to the chains as the pain began to really flare up._

_ "__NARUTO!"_

_Flashback End_

***Gekkoukan High***

Naruto quickly bolt upwards and looked to find himself in one of the beds in the Nurse's Office.

"Naruto-kun!" Kotone said as she was by his bed with a worried look on her face, "You're alright!"

"Wha…" Naruto asked as he rubbed the bright light out of his eyes, "What happened?"

"You had a small panic attack," said Mr. Edogawa as he was at the desk preparing…something that didn't look edible, "You gave Yukari quite the scare a little bit ago as she said you froze for a minute and began to breathe heavily before clutching your chest. Poor girl thought you were having a heart attack with how she was screaming."

The blond let out a regretful sigh as he could have only imagined how scared Yukari was. She was only just asking questions about the rumors that were going around the school and he just HAD to have a panic attack right in front of her.

_Damn PTSD,_ Naruto thought as his eyes finally adjusted themselves to the light until he heard the sound of the door sliding open and the familiar clacking sound of heels.

"How is he?" Mitsuru asked with authority that hid her concern.

"He's just alright, Kirijo-san," Mr. Edogawa said as he turned around in the chair to face the woman, "just had a slight panic attack. I was about to contact his homeroom teacher when Shione-san enter the door when she heard what was going on."

"I'm fine, Mitsuru…" Naruto said before he mumbled something under his breath.

"I'd let you know that you are not fine, but I do not want to risk another attack like that." Mitsuru said as she approached his bedside, "But I am going to take you back to the dorm and care for you in case."

"I-I'll be fine!" Naruto said as he pulled the blanket off of him, "What about your classes? I don't want to hold you back because of some stupid attack!"

"School can wait as my mother had always told me that family always comes first," Mitsuru countered with a slight smile on her face, "it is the Uzumaki Creed after all, Naruto."

Naruto let out a sigh through his nose as Mitsuru would rarely call him by his name unless it was something serious.

"Alright…" Naruto said as he carefully got off the bed with Kotone stand carefully nearby in case the blond needed help, "…but I need your help with something."

"If it's about Takeba, then I can have her and the others meet us after school." Mitsuru said as she gave a nod to Kotone, "Now let's get back to the dorm as I'll have Arisato or Shione get your homework from your teacher."

Naruto grumbled a bit before following his cousin through the school before both he and Mitsuru got in a limousine that was waiting outside after getting their things from their lockers.

_Why did this have to happen to me?_ Naruto thought as the limo drove away from the school somberly.

***Dorm***

Naruto and Mitsuru were both sitting in the lounge area, waiting for everyone to come back from school considering that the Kirijo woman had sent a text to the other members of SEES of a highly important meeting that was mandatory.

"Do we really _have_ to do this, Cuz?" the blond impatiently asked as his leg was bouncing, "You know how I really don't like bringing up MY past!"

"I'm sorry," Mitsuru said with a serious tone that hid her worry for her cousin, "but we need to discuss this with the others; it would have been brought up anyway if they had witness your attack here instead of at the school."

"Not helping…"

_*YIPE!*_

Kichi suddenly ran off from under Naruto's feet and towards the TV before delicately sniffing around her tail where the blond had accidentally stepped on it.

"S-sorry Kichi…" Naruto said as said vixen shot him a small glare as the door opened to reveal Yukari rushing towards Naruto.

"Naruto!" Yukari called out as she stopped before the blond, "I am so sorry about what had happened back at school. If I had known that my questions could have such a reaction to you I-"

"Yukari," Naruto said loudly in order to stop the brunette, "it's not your fault; if anyone's to blame, then it's me for not telling you guys about my condition."

A look from both Naruto and Mitsuru told everyone to take a seat on the couches as the blond then let out a sigh.

"I don't like admitting this," Naruto began with a serious tone on his face, "but I have a condition known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the reason I don't like admitting it is because people become either invasive about my condition, dancing around the real questions they want to ask, or even just not letting it drop."

"But why not?" Kotone asked with a worried tone, "PTSD is really serious and something like this could hurt you really badly in the future."

"The answer to that is because my past is completely fucked up to the point that I wouldn't even wish this fate onto any of the Shadows we have faced." Naruto answered as his fists tightened, "I had never asked for the life I was given as it was pure Hell for me. To me, the past is to STAY in the past so that I can never be bothered by it again!"

"But what about coping with it?" Yukari asked cautiously in hopes of not triggering another attack.

"I deal with it just fine," the blond answered bluntly as he crossed his arms, "between Kendo Club, SEES, and karaoke, I've never had to worry about my panic attacks as I had been able to stop them from time and again."

"But aren't you just pushing the problem away?" Junpei asked, getting a shocked look from Yukari, "Why not just face the source head-on?"

With a loud, humorless laugh, Naruto countered, "I wouldn't do that even if I could and besides…I hope that past just stays where it belongs as I want nothing to do with it or anyone from that past anymore."

Naruto then stood up from his seat and walked towards the stairs and said, "I'm going to bed since I had a very long day and I have plans tomorrow anyway, so good night."

"But-"

"Good! Night!" Naruto harshly barked out before climbing up the stairs with Kichi running from her spot near the TV and following the blond.

Once in his room and changed, Naruto went to pull his sheets to the side so he could climb in when…

_*CHOMP!*_

"Gyah!" Naruto cried out as he held his injured hand where Kichi had just bit him, "What was that for!?"

"That was for lashing out at your friends!" Kichi barked out as she sat on Naruto's bed and licked her chops, "They're only trying to help you!"

"I know!" Naruto said a bit harshly before letting out a regretful sigh, "I know…"

"I know you don't like thinking about the past," Kichi said as she moved over so that the blond could sit next to her, "but sometimes it is a good idea to talk to others about your problems…even if it brings up bad memories."

"That's just it!" Naruto said in confused anger, "What would I tell them, let alone just HOW to tell them! It's not like I could just say "Hey guys, fun little fact about me: I used to be a real ninja and I had an actual Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed inside of me since my birth!" and have them accept me right from the get-go!"

Kichi let out a sigh as she said, "While that does sound completely ridiculous, you can still get the help that you need by revealing, but also lying, about your past; just little white lies so that they can help you with what you give them."

"Takes a master trickster to know a thing about lying…" Naruto grumbled out as Kichi glared at him.

"In my defense, you were living a lie for your entire life!" the vixen harshly barked out, "Here, you have the chance of being honest with yourself about who you are and make a new start in life. You are NOT going to throw that chance away just because people have gotten a little nosy with you!"

Naruto scowled for a moment before letting out a regretful sigh and said, "Maybe you're right…but I just don't feel like talking about it to them…not just yet."

Kichi jumped down onto the floor as the blond then lay down under the bedsheets and pulled the covers over himself.

"Apart from Mitsuru and Takeharu," Kichi said as Naruto turned himself away from her, "only one person knows the truth about you and we're meeting with him tomorrow after school. You had also revealed a bit of your past to Kotone sometime after she had awakened her power."

"That last part was only because it felt fair since I had looked at her records," Naruto countered, still facing away from the vixen, "and as for _him_, I know I can trust him considering what we all have gone through. Now, I'm really tired and I don't want to nod off at our meeting spot. G' night."

Kichi remained silent until she walked to her little bed and curled herself into a comfortable position before falling asleep herself.

_I hope for one day that you can open your heart to those who can help you Kit…_

***Port Island Station; Back Alley***

After picking up Kichi when school had let out, Naruto traveled through the dark, damp alley and scanned over some of the residents in the area.

"Well, well, well," said a thuggish teen as he and a couple other ruff-looking teens walked towards the blond, "lookie what we have here: a pretty boy and a fox."

"Been too long since we roughed somebody up!" said one of the other thuggish teens with a wicked smirk on his pierced mouth, "What brings a Gekkoukan Goodie like you here to _our_ little territory?"

"I'm here to meet some ass-fuck named Shinjiro Aragaki." Naruto boldly said as he held his stance, getting a fearful look from the three thugs before him, "That fucker has something I'm looking for and I'm not leaving until he gives me what he owes, even if I have to beat his ass to the fucking ground!"

"This guy must have a death wish to call out Aragaki like that!" one of the thugs said as he started to back away from the blond.

"I ain't sticking around to witness a murder!" said another thug as he ran away with the other teen following him.

The lone thug looked at Naruto with false bravado and said, "I-I ain't afraid of you or Aragaki! Yeah, you hear that! I ain't afraid of shit!"

"Oh really?" asked a gruff voice as from the shadows, a young man with messy brown hair and paled skin wearing a maroon peacoat, long black pants, a black beanie, and pointed boots walked into the scene, "Because it sounds like this bitch isn't the only one who has a death wish."

"Finally showed your face, ya coward!" Naruto called out in the form of a verbal challenge, causing the thug to sweat a bit from the tension.

"At least I don't act like a dick when faced with life-threatening danger!" the thuggish brunette said as his huge shoulders looked more like a wall to the smaller thug.

"What do you know about being a dick, ya freaking emo!" Naruto called out as he and the taller thug closed in on each other, making the smaller thug more uncomfortable at being between two vicious characters calling each other out for a challenge.

"You ready to die, fucker?" the brunette asked threateningly as he and Naruto were just inches away from each other.

"I was about to ask you the same thing, ya ghoul!" Naruto said with a devilish smirk on his face.

Not wanting to get maimed, the smaller thug quickly bolted away with his tail between his now stained pants and said, "I'm outta here!"

After seeing the thug's shadow vanish, laughter soon echoed throughout the alley as Naruto had to wipe the tears forming in his eyes.

"That was priceless, Shinji!" the blond said through his laughter, "I can't believe we made the guy wet himself. So much for the whole 'tough guy' act!"

The paled-skin brunette just scoffed as he said, "What do you want, Naruto? I know you didn't just come here to reignite our old name-calling contest."

Naruto's laughter slowly died down until he looked at the thug before him and said, "I need a little bit of information and a favor from you, Shinjiro."

Shinjiro took a seat on the nearby steps as he then asked, "So what is it from me?"

"It's just like I said," Naruto said as he then took a seat near the thug, "I need some information and a favor."

"What kind of favor?" Shinjiro asked defensively.

"We'll get to that later." Naruto said as Kichi climbed onto the brunette's lap and curled up against his coat, "First off, what do you know about what had happened at Gekkoukan?"

"I know about the girl that was found passed out in front of the gates?" Shinjiro answered as he reached into the inside of his coat and pulled out a piece of salmon that was wrapped in plastic wrap, "I'm guessing you're wondering if there's more behind her story?"

The blond nodded as the thuggish teen removed the wrap and gave the salmon to Kichi.

"Well," Shinjiro began as the vixen was happily eating away, "she along with a couple other girls have been hanging around here lately, bragging away about some girl that they bullied."

"What's new?" Naruto asked as he had already heard that part thanks to Yukari.

"One of those other girls was your ex, Natsuki," Shinjiro said, getting a slapped look from Naruto, "and she kept going on and on about this one specific girl that she bullied."

Seeing the blond's now tightened knuckles, the thuggish teen then said, "Before I tell you who that bullied girl was and cause you to flip out due to the you-know-what, how about you reveal to me that little favor of yours?"

Naruto calmed himself down a bit before he then said, "I have a feeling that the newest members of SEES will find themselves wondering in this craphole."

The blond handed Shinjiro his cell phone that had a picture of the SEES Rookies before he then said, "I just want you to make sure that they get out safely, but most importantly, alive without serious injuries."

"As long as you fill you end of the deal." Shinjiro said as he gave the blond a slight glare.

"I'll intercept him whenever I can and how ever I can." Naruto answered stoically, "So who was my ex-girlfriend bullying?"

Shinjiro remained silent for a moment before he reveal a name that Naruto would have never wanted to hear…

"Fuuka Yamagishi."

**This doesn't sound good for both SEES and Naruto himself. What will happen from there? Don't forget to rate and review!**

**Ja ne.**


	8. Chapter 7

**I do not own Naruto, the Persona Series, or Puke. They belong to their respective owners.**

**I will also note that I did adjust the lyrics to Puke to try and get it to fit how Naruto view his disgust with recent events and discoveries.**

"Persona!" normal speech

**"Persona!"** demon/Shadow speech

_"Persona!"_ thought/mind speak

Chapter VII

***Dorm***

Naruto, Akihiko, and Mitsuru were sitting in the lounge in silence as they were minding their own until Naruto's phone had gone off. The blond then pulled out his phone to see that he had received a text message:

_I did what you asked. Sent them back your way. –Outcast—_

"What is it?" Mitsuru asked as she looked up from her book.

"Just a text." Naruto answered as the doors opened to reveal the SEES Rookies with different looks on their faces.

"We're back," Yukari said with a shamed guilt on her look, "and we learned more about that ghost story."

"I take it your trip to the Port Island allies was…" Mitsuru said as she had a firm look that dared any of the Rookies to even think of lying to her, "…uneventful."

"I wouldn't say that Senpai," Junpei answered with a slight cringe as he delicately placed a hand on his stomach, "but thankfully Shinjiro-senpai was there to save our asses."

"I hope you four will now understand just what kind of trouble following rumors can lead to." Naruto said as he stood up from his seat, "Yukari, Minato, and Kotone will talk to Mitsuru while Junpei comes with me."

Without any form of argument, the Rookies did as they were told while Naruto and Junpei went upstairs before entering Naruto's room.

"So…" the hat-wearing teen asked as he looked around the blond's room, "what's up."

"Checking on your injury." Naruto bluntly said as he pulled a seat for Junpei to sit, "I have a medical kit in my desk."

Seeing the blond pull out a small box that had 'First Aid' written on it, Junpei then said, "I'm alright, Naruto, I just got punched is all."

"Once you've suffered enough beatings like I have," Naruto said as Kichi suddenly crawled out from under the bed, "you recognize certain injuries."

"B-Beatings?" Junpei asked as he was slightly shocked, "You mean…from the Shadows?"

Naruto was silent for a moment until he said, "Not from Shadows…but from grown men."

The hat-wearing teen drew in a breath before cringing as his injury acted up at the absurd answer he had gotten.

Grown men beating up someone like Naruto?

Sensing both the shock on the internal questions, Naruto then said, "The beatings happened during my childhood…if you could actually call it that."

If Junpei was drinking something, such a statement would have cover the blond before him with said drink.

"You were beaten…" Junpei said with horror on his eyes, "…as a CHILD!? Engh!"

"Easy there!" Naruto said as he placed a trusting hand on Junpei's arm, "Let me take a quick look as I've seen some of the weapons that those thugs can have…including brass knuckles or knives."

Junpei didn't argue or fight back as Naruto lifted his shirt enough to reveal a small, but noticeable bruise starting to form.

The blond let out a hum before he said, "Looks like he didn't have any brass knuckles or sharp objects hidden in his hand. Just apply a little bit of ice, don't bother it or stretch it too much, and some rest won't cure. I'll ask Mitsuru if we have any painkillers around to help ease any future pains you may go through, and no, we are not going to Tartarus tonight or for a little while for that fact."

"Don't blame you for that call Doc," Junpei said with a light, but careful chuckle, "but seriously: Why would _grown_ men beat up a small child? Were they drunk?"

"Some of them." Naruto answered nonchalantly as he let the teen's shirt fall back down before he started to dig through the medical box, "Most times they were sober…unless it was on my birthday, _then_ they were either drunk to make skunks look sober or especially cruel."

"But why?" Junpei asked as he was still shocked about the information he was receiving. It was bad enough to learn that a student was being bullied right at his school, but one of his friends getting beaten up as a child by adults!?

"Reasons that only they and many more are all too willing to believe." the blond answered as he found an empty ice bag, "Now let's go get that ice so we can at least take care of some of the swelling."

"What were those reasons?" Junpei suddenly asked as he just couldn't let this go. This is one of his friends for crying out loud!

Naruto remained silent, contemplating on an idea, until he then said, "That a story for another time."

Junpei was about to press on, but he saw the slight glare on the blond's face and even though it didn't have much intimidation behind it, it still delivered Naruto's message…

Drop it.

_He'll tell us when he wants to,_ the hat-wearing teen thought to himself as he followed Naruto and Kichi out of the room, _but still…_

It was late into the night as Naruto was in the kitchen fixing a quick snack after doing what studying he could get.

"I take it you sent Aragaki to keep them safe." a familiar voice said as Naruto looked back to see his cousin wearing a rust red robe over her moon white nightgown.

"He's the only one that I know to help keep the Rookies relatively safe." Naruto answered after putting the leftover materials needed for his sandwich away in the fridge, "Plus he's the only one that _can_ take on those thugs and scare them off."

Naruto then walked to the lounge area and sat down on the sofa with Mitsuru sitting on one of the adjacent chairs.

"I plan on confronting Moriyama and your homeroom teacher about this incident with Yamagishi." Mitsuru said before a disappointed, yet guilty look formed on her face, "How could I let such a travesty like this go on without my knowing?"

"Don't beat yourself up, Cuz." Naruto said as he took a bite of his sandwich, "You can only do so much at this point as Uncle Takeharu is still in charge of the Kirijo Group. If anything, you can at least let them know of ALL of the damages done by this act, both future and present."

Mitsuru nodded in slight appreciation of her cousin's wisdom before she said, "I'm only telling you this in hopes that you won't get involved."

Silence chilled the room in an ominous manner until Naruto looked at the red haired woman and said, "I'm sorry, but I HAVE to be there considering that not only is my ex involved, but my own teacher! What if he's also a part of this?"

"I'm trying to keep you from having one of your…worse episodes." Mitsuru countered carefully as she wasn't sure if she and Naruto were the only ones up this late, "It's bad enough that Takeba and Shione were exposed to your panic attacks, but if they saw you having one of _those_ episodes…"

"I'll be fine." Naruto bluntly countered, "But if it makes you feel any better, I can leave when I feel it coming around."

"That's the problem!" Mitsuru quickly countered as her eyes narrowed threateningly, "What if at some point something triggers an episode immediately? I can't risk your safety, Naruto. While I also care about the rest of the faculty and school, along with the rest of Port Island, my mother had made me understand the Uzumaki Creed until the moment she had died from illness."

Naruto cringed in guilt as even though he had never met his aunt, Quina was easily someone far more important than just a mother to Mitsuru. Both his cousin and Takeharu would tell the blond many stories about how Quina would sometimes be a kind and loving woman that once served as Takeharu's bodyguard and confidant, or even a ruthless she-devil that once scared the literal piss out of some thugs who would try to either hit on her or just hurt her. Another thing that both Mitsuru and Takeharu would always talk about when mentioning the deceased woman was that she was an avid believer that family should always come first before anything as she would sometimes intimidate rival companies into holding off a meeting with the Kirijo Group just so she and her family would have a nice picnic.

Letting out a sigh, Naruto looked at his cousin and said, "Listen, I need to be there to hear just why this had to happen to a sweet girl like Fuuka-chan, but I understand that I risk having one of _those_ episodes by being there. I may not exactly represent the Kirijo Group, but I'm not going to sit by and let a crime like this ruin people's lives…especially to those I care about. I know Natsuki is a good girl and maybe something like this would be a good wake-up call to show her that every action can have consequences that no one would be able to handle. I'm going, but I WILL leave if I start to have an episode."

Seeing that there was no talking her cousin out of it, Mitsuru let out a sigh as she then said, "You're impossible to deal with…but you are family and families are always there for each other."

Naruto smiled a bit before he said, "Now you best get yourself some rest, Mitsuru, or else you're not going to be real scary with bags under your eyes."

_*pomf!*_

"Goodnight Namikaze." Mitsuru said as she got up from her seat after tossing one of the pillows at Naruto, "I'll see you at school."

The blond chuckled as sometimes it was just too easy to tease his classy cousin, but he knew that the confrontation with Mr. Ekoda and Natsuki would be anything but a good time.

***Gekkoukan High***

Lunch had arrived as the SEES Rookies slowly approached the teacher's lounge in hopes of letting the teacher know about what they had discovered about Fuuka.

"Alright…" Yukari said as she steeled herself for what might happen, "…let's get this over with."

Minato nodded as he opened the door and led the others in to find that Mitsuru and Naruto had already beaten them as the duo were looking down at Natsuki with Mr. Ekoda sitting next to her.

"Senpai?" Yukari asked with surprise, "What are you and Naruto doing here?"

"Same reason as you." Naruto answered as he had his eyes narrowed towards the seated duo.

"Mr. Ekoda," Mitsuru began with a professional tone, "We're here to ask you about a student named Fuuka Yamagishi."

"N-No!" a young girl with auburn hair cried out in fear before lightly grabbing her head, "I…I never thought it would turn out like this! Fuuka…"

Yukari had quickly recognized the girl from an earlier date when she and another girl were talking about bullying a student.

"What did you do to Yamagishi?" Mitsuru asked as her aura was intimidating at the moment.

Not seeing that Natsuki was talking, Naruto took a step forward and said, "What did you do to Fuuka, Moriyama-san!?"

"Now hold on!" Mr. Ekoda said as he didn't like how this was going, "This isn't an interrogation. She doesn't have to say anything if she doesn't want to; you don't want to give them the wrong idea."

Unable to handle the pressure, Natsuki then said, "Fuuka…She…She always looked so frazzled when I gave her a hard time. Then I realized that she's an honor student…deep inside, she was just like us; I knew which buttons to press."

Natsuki then began to have a panicked look as she continued, "We were just messing with her that day! On May 29th…we took Fuuka to the gym and locked her and locked the door from the outside."

"You WHAT!?" Naruto roared out, but calmed himself down after Mitsuru placed a hand on his shoulder.

"That night," Natsuki said as her eyes began to water, "Maki returned to school in fear that we might get in trouble if Fuuka had…killed herself. She never came back…and the next morning…"

"She was found lying in front of the school gate." Yukari said, knowing how the whole event caught everyone's attention.

"I went to the gym to let Fuuka out…" Natsuki said as a look of horror was soon on her face, "…but the door was still locked! I opened it and went inside to find…that she wasn't there! We began to freak out and began searching for her every night! However…each night, another one of us had gone missing…and they ended up like Maki!"

"I see…" Mitsuru said as she knew what had happened to the girls that were with Natsuki before turning her attention to the teacher, "By the way, Mr. Ekoda…all this time you attributed Yamagishi's absence to illness, but in reality, she was missing and you were aware of that…"

Mitsuru took a step in front of Naruto before she asked, "What was your intention?"

"I was thinking of the students, of course!" Mr. Ekoda said with a harsh tone, unaware of the nearby blond's hair becoming more feral than before, "You children may not understand, but we have to consider the future of everyone affected."

_*BAM!*_

"You mean to tell us that instead of reporting this, you decided to sweep this under the rug and pretend that none of this had ever happened!?" Naruto roared out after slamming a fist into the nearby desk as everyone saw that his looks had changed.

Naruto's blond hair now had a wild look to it while the whisker-like marks on his cheeks were thicker and curved, making look like an attacking animal. His teeth also had a sharper look to them while Yukari noticed that his fingernails had now began to look like dangerously sharp claws. It was as if the Naruto they knew before had suddenly transformed into some animalistic creature that was ready to strike at any moment.

Intimidated by how Naruto looked, Mr. Ekoda then said, "It…It was in her best interest! We can't have something like this become a stain in our records!"

_*Whoo-BOOM!*_

Papers and binders were scattered as Naruto had violently tossed the nearby desk to the floor, causing the table and floor to crack from the sheer impact, before grabbing the teacher by the jacket of his suit and slamming him into a wall.

"So you decided that **ONE **student's life isn't worth the trouble over how many others would **REACT!?"** Naruto roared out as his voice was becoming distorted and his eyes were glowing red, "And you call yourself a **TEACHER!?** If not for school regu**lations, I'd beat the fucking shit out of you before using your face as a fucking hammer!"**

"Naruto, that's enough!" Mitsuru called out as she grabbed Naruto's shoulder and added enough pressure to get her cousin's attention.

Naruto looked back as a massive wave of Killing Intent erupted from the blond, sending the SEES Rookies into a fight-or-flight mode just by the sight of the red-eyed blond before them.

_What the fuck is this!?_ Junpei thought as he was sure that the entire school had felt that wave of bloodlust, _Is that Naruto!?_

_Dear God!_ Yukari thought as the blond before her looked like he was possessed entire by demonic rage, _Is this really Naruto?_

Able to find some control, Naruto roughly dropped Mr. Ekoda to the floor and began to walk out of the room.

"Naruto-kun…" Natsuki said as the enraged blond passed her, "…I'm really sorry about this."

Naruto's only response was an animalistic growl that actually sounded more disappointed than threatening as the blond exited the room while slamming the door behind him.

It was silent in the room until Junpei voiced the very thought that everyone, save for Mitsuru, had on their minds.

"What the fuck was that?"

***Mandragora***

Naruto knew that he was skipping classes for a karaoke session and he also knew that Mitsuru was going to get onto him for what he did back at school, but he didn't care at the moment…

He needed this…

…badly.

After selecting the song that best fit his current mood, Naruto walked up to the stage and took the microphone and gripped it tightly in his hands, but not enough to damage it.

"Alright everyone!" said the DJ with a smile on his face despite how the blond on the stage was feeling, "Time to give everyone's favorite singer a round of applause as he performs Eminem's Puke!"

The crowd cheered and applauded Naruto's gutsy choice of a rap song while also knowing that the blond before them had always managed to bring all of the songs he sung to life.

Naruto however picked this song for a different reason. He wasn't a fan of rap as sometimes the words would just sound confusing with how it would be jumbled up with the accompanying music. The real reason he had picked the song was because of his past as Mr. Ekoda had reminded him of one of the people that had disgusted him before his banishment…

Kakashi Hatake.

The drunken beat began as Naruto brought the microphone to his mouth and began his song.

**_There I go,_**

**_Thinking of you again._**

**_You don't know how sick you make me!_**

**_You make me fucking sick to my stomach!_**

**_Every time I think of you,_**

**_I puke!_**

**_You must just not know!_**

**_You may not think you do,_**

**_But you do!_**

**_Every time I think of you,_**

**_I puke!_**

**_I was gonna take the time to sit down,_**

**_And write you a little poem,_**

**_But off of the dome would probably be a little more,_**

**_More suitable for this type of song!_**

**_Whoa!_**

**_I got a million reasons off the top of my head,_**

**_That I could think of!_**

**_Sixteen bars,_**

**_This ain't enough to put some ink-ta,_**

**_So fuck it,_**

**_I'm a start right here by being brief-a!_**

**_'_****_Bout to rattle off some other reasons!_**

**_I knew I shouldn't go and get another tattoo,_**

**_Of you on my arm,_**

**_But what do I go and do?_**

**_I go and get another one,_**

**_And now I got two._**

**_Ooh!_**

**_Now I'm sitting here,_**

**_With your name on my skin!_**

**_I can't believe I went and did this shit again._**

**_My next close friend,_**

**_Now their name's gotta be Kim!_**

**_Shit!_**

**_If you only knew,_**

**_How much I hated you,_**

**_For every motherfucking thing,_**

**_You ever put us through!_**

**_Then I wouldn't be standing here,_**

**_Crying over you!_**

**_Boo-hoo!_**

**_You don't know how sick you make me!_**

**_You make me fucking sick to my stomach!_**

**_Every time I think of you,_**

**_I puke!_**

**_You must just not know!_**

**_You may not think you do,_**

**_But you do!_**

**_Every time I think of you,_**

**_I puke!_**

**_I was gonna take the time to sit down,_**

**_And write you a little letter,_**

**_But I thought a song,_**

**_Would be a little better,_**

**_Instead of a letter,_**

**_That you'd just shred up._**

**_Yeah._**

**_I stumbled on your picture yesterday,_**

**_And it made me stop and think of,_**

**_How much of a waste,_**

**_It'd be for me to put some ink-ta,_**

**_A stupid piece of,_**

**_Paper,_**

**_I'd rather let you see how,_**

**_Much I fucking hate you,_**

**_In a freestyle!_**

**_You're a fucking porn-addict,_**

**_I hope you fucking die!_**

**_I hope you get to Hell,_**

**_And Satan sticks a needle in your eye!_**

**_I hate your fucking guts,_**

**_You fucking ass,_**

**_I hope you die!_**

**_Die!_**

**_But please don't get me wrong,_**

**_I'm not bitter or mad._**

**_It's not that I still respect you._**

**_It's not 'cause I want you back._**

**_It's just when I think of you,_**

**_It makes me wanna gag!_**

**_What else can I do?_**

**_I haven't got a clue._**

**_Now I'll guess I'll move on,_**

**_I have no choice but to,_**

**_But every time I think of you,_**

**_Now all I wanna do,_**

**_Is puke!_**

**_You don't know how sick you make me!_**

**_You make me fucking sick to my stomach!_**

**_Every time I think of you,_**

**_I puke!_**

**_You must just not know!_**

**_You may not think you do,_**

**_But you do!_**

**_Every time I think of you,_**

**_I puke!_**

The drunken beat continued as the song ended, allowing Naruto to get a view of the audience. They now had disgusted looks on their faces as they thought back to those that had seriously made them mad in the past or just plain disgusted them to such a level. It was moments like these that helped Naruto express how he felt at times as the audience would somehow experience the ordeals he had to go through in life.

"Alright!" said the DJ as he and the audience began to cheer and clap for the blond, "Another great performance by Naruto Namikaze!"

At the sound of the applause, Naruto felt better than he did after today and his anger had been cooled off to a more tolerable point.

He took a quick look at his watch to find that classes were still in session and he didn't want to deal with school at the moment…and the audience was sounding like they wanted an encore.

_What the hell?_ Naruto thought to himself with a shrug of his shoulders, _The people love me._

***Dorm***

Night had fallen as Naruto walked in the dorm to find Mitsuru waiting for him with Kichi sitting next to her feet, both of them with an impatient look on their faces.

"Where have you been, Namikaze?" Mitsuru asked as she tapped her toes impatiently.

Naruto scowled a bit as he said, "I was cooling off at Mandragora; figured singing a couple of songs would help me cool down after today. So what's going on?"

"We're going to be infiltrating the school," the red-haired woman said, getting a shocked look from Naruto, "and from there, we are going to have a team enter Tartarus the same way Yamagishi had: through the gym the moment our school transforms during the Dark Hour."

"Seriously?" Naruto asked at just how crazy the idea was, "Someone's going to enter Tartarus _that_ way? What if something goes wrong?"

"It's the only plan that we have." Mitsuru said with a regretful tone, "I know it's risky, but what other choice do we have? I'm not sure if I could find her with my limited sensory powers."

"So how are we going to get in the school?" Naruto asked as he wondered if he should bring his lock picking tools.

"Iori mentioned that he has a plan on getting us in." Mitsuru said with a slight chuckle, "We'll meet you back at the school once you grab your gear."

Mitsuru then headed towards the stairs, leaving a confused Naruto wondering just what the hat-wearing teen had planned.

_*Chomp!*_

"Gyow!" the blond cried out as Kichi had her teeth tightly on Naruto's hand and didn't look like she was letting go.

The vixen held on for a moment before letting go as she said, "Mitsuru had told me about how you had nearly gone berserk at school AFTER she had told you not to go with her to confront both your teach and your former potential mate. She had warned you about something like this happening and what do you do? You threatened to kill a teacher! She considered herself lucky that none of the other teachers brought it up considering that they might possibly have a dead student on their hands, and it would have been thanks to Mr. Ekoda that Fuuka-chan's blood would be on _their_ hands."

"S-sorry Kichi…" Naruto said as he let out a sigh, "It's just that…what Mr. Ekoda had done…reminded me too much of Kakashi."

Letting out a sigh of her own, Kichi rubbed her head against Naruto's leg and said, "Kit, I've been telling you time and time again that Kakashi may not have much of a choice in abandoning you due to the council probably forcing him to teach that Uchiha brat more than you. Yes, I do wish that he could have given you a better tutor since you were going up a difficult opponent, but what could you have done to the jinchuriki of Shukaku? I'm not supporting his decision, it's just that your former sensei could have done better with his choices."

Naruto let out a distant sigh as the bite marks on his hands were slowly vanishing. Even though his chakra was sealed, no one could stop _demonic_ chakra as it was a different league of its own as there were only certain ways to handle such powerful and destructive chakra.

"Come on Kit," Kichi said as she motioned towards the stairs, "we need to get ready."

Naruto nodded as now wasn't the time to wallow in the past.

There was a person that needed to be rescued!

**What will happen as SEES initiate their plan on rescuing Fuuka? How will things plan out during their trip to Tartarus?**

**Now some of you are thinking: How could the demonic chakra be healing Naruto is his chakra was sealed? Well, I kind of got the idea from Jurassic World (good movie by the way) where the Indominus Rex had tricked everyone into think that she had escaped, controlling her body heat, and even removing the chip that was on the back of her neck, I was thinking that demonic chakra could act the same way.**

**As Ian Malcom had once said, "Life finds a way."**

**Don't forget to rate and review!**

**Ja ne.**


	9. Chapter 8

**I do not own Naruto or the Persona Series.**

"Fuuka!" normal speech

_"Persona!"_ thought/mind speak

**"Persona!"** demon/Shadow/Persona speak

Chapter VIII

**[Dark Hour]**

***Tartarus; Arqa***

Naruto laid on the floor of Tartarus for a moment before stirring back into consciousness as he slowly pushed himself up.

"Ugh…" the blond groaned as he focused on ridding the cobwebs in his skull, "…What happened?"

As he sat up, Naruto began to remember the past events that led him to this situation…

**[End Dark Hour]**

_Flashback_

**_*Gekkoukan High*_**

_The members of SEES had just made it inside of one of the homerooms in their school in the midst of night through an unlocked door thanks to Junpei._

_ "__Can we turn on a light?" Yukari asked as she hugged herself and looked around, "This place is just as creepy as Tartarus."_

_ "__Sorry Yukari," Naruto said as he leaned against the chalkboard, "but this requires stealth, meaning that we have to stick to the shadows and hide our presence if we are to save Fuuka-chan."_

_ "__Naruto's right." Mitsuru said as she kept her cool in the darkness, "I suggest we split up and search for the key to the gym."_

_ "__Most likely the key will be either in the teacher's lounge or the janitor's closet," Naruto said as he kept an eye out for anything, "We need to look at both places in order to find that key."_

_ "__I'll look in the teacher's lounge," Junpei offered as a sly grin formed on his face, "might stumble upon a few report cards by accident."_

_Akihiko gave the hat-wearing teen a curious look before he said, "I'll go with Junpei…just to keep him out of trouble."_

_Sensing the hidden message, Mitsuru glared at the two before she said, "Sorry, but I think it would be best if both Iori and Akihiko go with me to the janitor's closet while the rest go to the teacher's lounge. Understood."_

Busted,_ Naruto thought with a quiet chuckle before seeing his cousin leave the room with Junpei and Akihiko following her._

_ "__Alright," Yukari said with a nervous look on her face, "let's go get that key."_

_ "__I suggest we split up as well," Naruto said as he walked towards Kotone, "We're not going to stick out more than we already do if we have small groups."_

_ "__What do mean about sticking out more than we already do?" Yukari asked with a slight insulted tune in her voice._

_Naruto gave the girl a deadpanned look before he, Minato, and Kotone walked close to her as they were wearing their BLACK Gekkoukan High jackets while Yukari was wearing her PINK jacket._

_ "__Point taken." Yukari said as she realized what the blond was meaning before she and Minato went out the room and headed towards the left._

_ "__Lead the way." Kotone said as Naruto nodded before they too had left the room and headed towards the right and down the stairs._

_They had passed a few of the class rooms, remaining ever so quiet as to not raise any alarms._

_ "__Yukari's right…" Kotone whispered to herself as she stuck close to the blond before her with hands gripping the sleeve of his jacket, "this place _is_ creepy like this."_

_ "__Reminds me of a game I had played some time ago," Naruto said as he kept a sharp lookout for anything, "except there's no killer robots out to get us."_

_The two continued to travel until they made it to the entrance where Yukari and Minato had just made it as well._

_The sound of footsteps had alerted the group of a guard walking by, causing Minato and Yukari to hide behind one of the columns while Naruto and Kotone hide behind the archway into the hallway. The blond saw the triangular shape of the light from the flashlight while seeing the frightened look on both girls while Minato had a hardened look of anticipation on his face._

_*kerash!*_

_ "__What was that?" a gruff voice said as the beam of light quickly vanished while the footsteps echoed away from the group until they could no longer be heard._

_Sensing that the guard was gone, the group let out sighs of relief knowing that-_

_*du-du-ding!*_

_*du-du-ding!*_

_ "__Ah!" Yukari yelped out, causing the group to tense up in fear of the guard returning and discovering them._

_Knowing where the noise was coming from, Yukari quickly pulled out her cell phone and looked to see what it was before putting the device back in the pocket of her skirt and said, "Figures…spam."_

_Holding back his thoughts, Naruto quietly growled out, "Let's just GET to the teacher's lounge before anything _ELSE_ happens!"_

_The trio quickly nodded as the memory of that frightening look on the blond's face was still fresh on their minds._

_Once they made it to the hall were the lounge was located, Naruto looked at Yukari and Minato as he said, "Kotone and I will keep a lookout while you two go get that key. I'll signal you when to hide and text you when it's safe."_

_The duo nodded before entering the teacher's lounge as quietly as possible through their limited sight._

Hope no more surprises happen,_ the blond thought as he wasn't sure just HOW the guard didn't double back due to Yukari's scream._

_It felt like hours while the blond continued to keep an eye out for anything after he had texted Mitsuru that they had made it to the lounge._

How long does it take to find one freaking key!?_ Naruto thought to himself until he felt a tug on his jacket before looking to find Kotone with a slightly distressed look on her face._

_ "__What's wrong?" Naruto asked while still keeping a sharp lookout, "Is someone coming?"_

_Kotone shook her head before the blond then asked, "You think the guard might check here in a few minutes?"_

_Another shake of the head caused the blond to then harshly ask, "Then what IS it!?"_

_The girl was quiet until she bluntly whispered, "I gotta pee."_

_The blond face faulted at the answer as he thought, _Is there some mystical force out there that's getting a kick out of my misery?

_Seeing that there was a bathroom nearby, Naruto looked at Kotone and said, "The bathrooms are right over there, so go on…but make it quick!"_

_The girl remained unmoving until she said, "Go with me?"_

_ "__Oh you've gotta be…" Naruto said as he shook his head in disbelief, "How old are you again?"_

_ "__Please." Kotone said as she looked at the blond with wide, sparkling eyes, getting a shocked and frightened look from Naruto._

Anything but those eyes!_ Naruto thought as he could feel his heart getting tugged by the girl's look._

_ "__F-Fine!" Naruto said as he was hoping that the darkness was hiding his blush, "But you better not breathe a word of this!"_

_Kotone smiled before dragging the blond with her while Naruto himself had only one thought…_

Dammit…

_Once in the bathroom, Naruto was waiting impatiently as Kotone was in the farthest stall for privacy._

_ "__Mind telling me why you're in the girl's bathroom?" said a familiar voice as Naruto looked to find Kichi jumping onto the floor from the window and walking towards the blond._

_ "__Someone was afraid of going in the bathroom by herself." Naruto answered with a slight growl in his voice, "Not the _stealth_ mission I had envisioned this to be."_

_ "__Well you will be happy that I got the a couple of the guards to chase after a few stray dogs that just happened to be in the area." Kichi said with a smirk on her face, "They won't be much of a problem for the rest of the time."_

_ "__That's good to know," Naruto whispered as he peeked to see that the stall Kotone was in was still closed, "now I just wish that Minato and Yukari would hurry up with finding that damn key!"_

_*ker-floosh!*_

_Naruto froze in fear as Kotone opened the stall door and skipped happily towards the sink._

_She was about to turn the faucet on until Naruto quickly, but carefully, grabbed her shoulder while placing a small packet of sanitizing wipes on the counter and said, "We don't need to be making any more noise or doing anything that would cause us to get caught…okay?"_

_The blond watched as Kotone opened the packet and rubbed the sanitizing napkin all over her hands as he then thought,_ I swear if ONE more irresponsible action happens, guards or not, I am going to headbutt a freaking wall!

_End Flashback_

**[Dark Hour]**

***Tartarus; Arqa***

Naruto got to his feet as the rest of the memories came to him easily afterwards.

"I wonder where the others are?" Naruto asked out loud as he didn't see Akihiko, Minato, Kotone, or Junpei around, "Note to self: Never enter Tartarus that way again."

"What am I, your secretary?" Kichi asked as she sniffed the air before holding a defensive stance, "There's Shadows nearby, but I am getting another scent. It's faint, but familiar; maybe if we got closer, I can get a better grasp."

Naruto nodded as he and Kichi dashed through the halls and decided to avoid any of the Shadows that they could since they were focused on one objective: Finding Fuuka.

The duo had just quickly dashed down an adjacent hallway to avoid a Shadow's sight when something had entered their ears.

"Hello?" said a familiar voice, "Is someone there?"

"That voice…" Naruto said as it suddenly donned on him, "Fuuka!"

"Kit, wait!" Kichi said as the blond suddenly made a mad dash towards the voice's location.

Naruto ran through the halls until he found himself in a large room that had another adjacent hall connected to it.

"Fuuka!" Naruto called out, ignoring the possibility of a Shadow attacking, "Fuuka, are you there?"

"Naruto-kun?" said a voice from the adjacent hallway as Naruto looked to find Fuuka carefully walking out of the shadows, "It IS you!"

The small girl ran towards Naruto and wrapped her arms around him before burying her face into his chest.

"I'm so glad that you and not one of those odd creatures!" Fuuka said as tears began to well up in her eyes before staining the blond's jacket, "I was so alone and I was lost in this creepy place and-"

"Hey, hey, hey…" Naruto said as he gently wrapped his arms around the frightened girl and slowly rocked her, "It's alright; I'm here and I won't let anything hurt you again."

Fuuka looked at the blond with reddened eyes and smiled when he then said, "I promise."

"There you are!" said a voice as Kichi dashed out of the hall behind Naruto, "What in Kami's name were you thinking when you ditched me like that!?"

Naruto let go as he then looked at the vixen and said, "S-sorry…"

Blinking in confusion, Fuuka looked at the vixen before her and asked, "Kichi-chan? How did you and Naruto-kun get here…whatever here is? I've never seen a building like this."

A screech was heard as Naruto looked to find a Shadow in the form of a man and woman, both headless, that had a large heart floating above them as they dance romantically with a rapier that was the size of a claymore. The man wore a tuxedo with a white jacket while the woman wore an elegant pink dress as the heart had a red mask in the center.

"Dammit!" Naruto said as he drew his katana and quickly pulled Fuuka behind him, "Get behind me!"

"Naruto, wait!" Fuuka cried out as the blond quickly dashed out to give the Shadow a powerful slash.

The Shadow gracefully dodged before thrusting its weapon towards the blond, but Naruto quickly deflected the attack away with his own sword. Using the opening, the blond was able to kick the man half of the Shadow in the knees before following with a katana slash on the woman half.

"Naruto…kun?" Fuuka asked in awe as she watched the blond continuing to deflect attacks while dishing out some of his own.

Said person was in a deadlock with the Shadow until he was able to swiftly disarm it before going in for the kill with a horizontal slash, causing the Shadow to fall onto its backs and dissolve away.

"Done and done." Naruto said before looking at Fuuka, who still had a shocked look on her face, "Guess I have some explaining to do. Why don't we meet up with the others while I tell you everything you want to know?"

Fuuka slowly nodded as she and Kichi followed the blond through the eerie building.

"I'll start off by saying that this building is actually Gekkoukan High," Naruto said as he kept a lookout for any of the others or more Shadows to avoid, "but this only happens during the Dark Hour, a hidden hour between midnight and a minute after midnight."

"A hidden hour?" Fuuka asked before she then asked, "What was that creature you fought?"

"That creature is just one of the many monsters that we call a Shadow." the blond answered as he saw a turn up ahead, "They like to feed on other people's minds, causing the symptom known to the public as Apathy Syndrome."

This surprised the young girl as she had heard of people and other students falling victim to this illness, but monsters causing the illness?

Naruto was about to tell Fuuka to stay, but the girl then said, "It's safe around that corner; none of those…Shadows?…are there."

This surprised the blond as how could anyone, save for Kichi and Mitsuru, could see around that corner without even looking?

Unless…

"I am also feeling that there are others up ahead of us." Fuuka then said, surprising Naruto once more, "They're more human than those monsters."

_It must be the others,_ Naruto said as he and his group continued walking through Tartarus, _but how would Fuuka-chan know that?_

The group continued until they had reached a room where Akihiko and Junpei were waiting while Minato and Kotone had also appeared at the same time.

"Finally!" Junpei cheered with a smile on his face, "Now we just need to find Naruto and Fuuka before the Shadows do!"

"No need for that," Naruto said as he, Fuuka, and Kichi approached them, grabbing their attention, "because we just got here ourselves."

Akihiko smiled a bit before turning his attention to the small girl and asked, "Are you okay?"

Fuuka smiled as she said, "I am, thanks to Naruto-kun; he protected me while we avoided the monsters."

The boxer nodded as he then said, "I'll see if I can contact Mitsuru, but we need to get out of here as soon as possible."

Akihiko pulled out his walkie-talkie and heard only static on the line.

"Damn!" he said as he clipped the device back onto his belt, "Nothing but static."

"So you said that Naruto protected you from the monsters, right?" Junpei asked Fuuka as he remained serious due to the situation.

"Yes." Fuuka answered with a nod of her head, "I had managed to avoid them until I had found Naruto-kun when one of them had attacked. You should have seen him; he was so brave fighting that monster all by himself! I was worried that he might get hurt, but he had beaten it without a scratch on him!"

None of the others had missed the blush on the girl's face as she then turned to Naruto and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun!" Fuuka said as said person began to blush brightly at his reward.

"I…duh…uh…welcome?" Naruto said as his words got mixed up in his flustered state.

"Somebody's crushin'!" Junpei said with a smirk as he then looked at the blushing blond, "And it seems like he's also digging his reward!"

"We have no time for this!" Akihiko said as he handed Fuuka a spare Evoker he had on him, "Hold on to this."

Seeing the gun, Fuuka gasped as she said, "But this is…!"

"It's not a REAL gun," Naruto said as he placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder after his blush had subsided, "just a…special…charm."

"Smooth." Kichi said as she heard the nervousness in the blond's voice, "Real smooth."

"Alright," Akihiko said as he looked at the group before him, "let's get out of here."

Everyone nodded as they walked through the eerie halls with Fuuka sticking really close to Naruto by wrapping her arms over one of his.

The group continued to walk through the halls until Junpei had looked one of the windows that were in Tartarus every now and then.

"Whoa," the hat-wearing teen said, getting everyone's attention, "check out the moon; never seen it so bright!"

"Pretty damn spooky if you ask me," Naruto said as the sight of the shining full moon caused him to shiver, "gives me chills when it's _this_ full."

"Some research indicates that Shadows are affected by the phases of the moon." Akihiko said as he looked at the eerie planet, "The same could be said for humans."

"Guess that explains Yuka-tan's mood swings." Junpei said with a slight chuckle, ignoring the looks everyone was giving him.

_Maybe that's the reason for this odd feeling,_ Naruto thought as he remembered having an odd feeling coming from inside of him during a full moon.

"It makes sense now." Kichi said as she managed to climb up onto the blond's shoulder, "Humans have always been affected by the phases of the moon, but since you're also a jinchuriki, Naruto, you are more affected by it; the demon chakra is reacting to the full moon's aura along with your human body."

"Wait a minute…" Junpei said as he remembered something, "Wasn't it a full moon on the night we went to the monorail?"

"Yeah it was." Naruto answered as that question had also brought up another memory, "Minato, Kotone, wasn't there a full moon just a few nights _after_ you both had first arrived at the dorm?"

The duo in question nodded at the same time, getting an alarmed look from Akihiko as the boxer then quickly reached for his walkie-talkie.

"Mitsuru, are you there!?" Akihiko asked with urgency in his voice.

Static rang out until Mitsuru's voice suddenly chimed in.

"Akihik…? Is tha…Shadows…" Mitsuru's distressed voice called out from the radio.

"Hey, Mitsuru! Can you hear me!?" Akihiko quickly said as something was wrong until he lost the signal, "Dammit!"

An odd feeling of dread suddenly crept up on Fuuka as she said, "What is this thing? It's bigger than the others that I've seen…and stronger too!"

Not wanting to waste any time, Naruto looked at everyone and barked out, "Everyone, MOVE!"

Getting the message, the group quickly ran towards the nearest access point that they could find, praying that they were not too late.

***Dorm***

Natsuki was sitting on the bed in one of the room on the girl's floor, holding her arms as the room looked eerie.

She wasn't sure what had happened as the room became like this at midnight and her cellphone wasn't working.

"What's going on here?" Natsuki asked as she was tempted to walk out and asked someone…hopefully anyone besides Naruto and Mitsuru at the moment.

After being confronted by the two and seeing Naruto's enraged look, the girl was scared of the two of them.

She was afraid of Mitsuru as she's from a huge family that practically OWNED the school she was going to and wouldn't be afraid to convince the board to expel her if Fuuka was found dead. You don't want to cross someone like the Kirijo Group; Mitsuru always had this intimidating aura of her that could literally chill a person to the bone.

Then there was Naruto…her ex-boyfriend…and possibly former friend.

Natsuki had seen the blond annoyed or mad, but she had never once seen Naruto at that level of anger. She knew that her ex was pissed off deeply by what Mr. Ekoda had said…and thinking back, Natsuki did understand just why: A teacher had shirked off one of his responsibilities towards his students just so no one could go into a panic should a student go missing all of a sudden.

But that aura Naruto had…it didn't even feel human at all. It was as if some sort of demonic entity had switched places with her ex right when Mr. Ekoda had crossed that line.

But then her thoughts returned to the one person that this was revolved around.

"Fuuka…" Natuski quietly said to herself as a tear rolled down her face, "…I'm so sorry…"

"…go…" said a mysterious voice, alarming the now frightened girl, "…go find Fuuka…tell her how sorry you are…"

"Wh-Who's there!?" Natsuki said until her eyes began to droop.

"Go to the tower…" the mysterious voice said, "…she is there…Go now while you have time…"

"Yes…" the girl said with a robotic tone in her voice, "I must go…Fuuka…"

Natsuki stood up from her seat and began her trek towards Fuuka…towards the tower…

***Tartarus; Entrance***

Naruto and the others had finally made it back to find Yukari on the floor and Mitsuru's bike badly damaged.

"Yukari!" Minato called out as he rushed towards the fallen girl.

"What in the world!?" Fuuka gasped out as everyone looked to find two incredibly large Shadows standing before them.

The first Shadow was in the form of an incredibly tall and slender man wearing armor from ancient Roman times while its face was covered by a purple mask that was in the form of a crown. The red cape it had was actually much shorter than the Shadow's body as it only draped halfway down its back. The Shadow also held a large sword in its right hand while it was also holding Mitsuru in the other.

The second Shadow was almost as tall as the first Shadow, just barely reaching up to the first one's face, and was in the form of an obese woman that had tiny feet, that surprisingly held the Shadow's weight, and a long, swan-like neck. This Shadow was wearing what appeared to be a dress, a long, white cloak that seemed to drag on the floor, and a golden mask in the form of a feminine version of the other Shadow's mask. In her hands was a scepter that she lightly twirled around as if it was a child's toy.

"Mitsuru!" Akihiko roared out at the sight of said person in the first Shadow's grip.

"They just appeared out of nowhere!" Yukari said as she held her injured arm, "We couldn't even hurt them, no matter what we threw at them!"

**"****That is because none could ever surpass those born from Lord Death!"** the purple-masked Shadow roared out…or at least it tried to roar out with its husky voice, **"The power our younger siblings, Magician and Priestess, could never match the power that WE, Emperor and Empress, possess!"**

** "****Ohohoho! Those two little wenches thought they could defeat the two of us with their silly little attacks!"** Empress laughed out as her voice actually sounded just as bloated as she was, **"I was thinking of making them my little pets as pinky over there would be an adorable addition to my collection while my weak and pathetic brother could have the red one…if he exactly knew just ****_what_**** to do with her."**

** "****Hey!"** Emperor shot out in embarrassment, **"I knew just what to do with her…you feed her to other humans, right?"**

Before another word was said, the sound of footsteps caught everyone's attention as Natsuki lifelessly walked through the entrance.

**"****I was wondering about her,"** Empress said as she eyed Natsuki with a hungry look, **"While the others weren't as entertaining as my little pets, I'm sure that she would be a much better pet…perhaps even as my own little toy doll that I can do whatever I want with."**

"Fuuka…" Natsuki said as she stopped dead in her tracks before falling to her knees.

Surprised at the other girl's appearance, Fuuka quickly rushed over as she called out, "Moriyama-san!"

"Fuuka," Naruto called out as said person rushed towards Natsuki, "wait!"

Grabbing Natsuki's shoulders, Fuuka then said, "What are you doing here!? It's dangerous!"

Snapping back to her senses, Natsuki looked to see Fuuka in front of her and hugged her tightly.

"I'm so sorry Fuuka!" Natsuki cried out as tears rolled down her cheeks, "I never wanted any of THIS to happen! Please…forgive me!"

With a disappointed look on her face, Empress took a few steps forward, readying an attack with her scepter, and said, **"You little wench! How dare you break one of MY new toys!"**

Finding her resolve, Fuuka got to her feet and pulled out the Evoker she was given.

"Wait!" Akihiko called out, "That's not a weapon!"

"I know…" Fuuka's voice rang out as she pointed the Evoker's barrel to her temple.

Empress gave her scepter a mighty heave as Natsuki covered her eyes to not witness the inevitable death.

_*BANG! Shatter!*_

A flash of light quickly appeared as something had knocked Empress back into Emperor, in turn causing it to drop Mitsuru from the sudden incident.

"What the…?" Naruto asked as the smoke soon cleared to reveal a shocking surprise.

A woman with the top half of her red face covered in bandages wearing a pink strapless gown and long pink gloves that almost reached her shoulders was now standing before everyone. She had long, flowing blonde hair and her lower body was in the form of a glass dome, revealing Fuuka and a now awe-stricken Natsuki inside.

Everyone rushed towards the new woman while Akihiko rushed towards Mitsuru's side.

"I'm alright, Akihiko," Mitsuru said despite some of the minor injuries and slowly forming bruises that were hiding by her clothes, "but be careful; none of our attacks are working and our equipment has been destroyed."

"It's alright," Akihiko said with a confident smirk, "since we have a trump card in our hands."

Fuuka opened her eyes and looked through the glass dome she was under to find archaic symbols that she somehow could understand.

**"****Do not be afraid,"** said a mysterious, yet soft and elegant voice echoed inside the girl's skull, **"What you see is part of our power."**

Not recognizing the voice, Fuuka looked around to find this new person as it sounded like someone was standing above her.

**"****You can already see me, Fuuka Yamagishi,"** the voice said once more, **"because I am a part of you. My name is Lucia."**

"Lucia?" Fuuka asked curiously, "So what am I seeing, Lucia? Those two monsters are surrounded by odd pictures, but yet I know what they are."

**"****What you are seeing is everything about those before us."** Lucia answered knowingly, **"What they are strong against, their weaknesses, and even what skills they possess. You and I both know that we are not fighters, nor could we ever be, but we can help our rescuers with this ability."**

Fuuka nodded as she knew that she, Lucia, and Natsuki would be protected by Naruto and his friends.

Once they had recovered from the surprise, Emperor and Empress growled as they saw that the group before then were ready for a fight.

**"****If you wish to die that badly…"** Emperor said as he held his sword out, ready for an attack.

**"…****then we'll grant it for you!"** Empress said as she suddenly rushed out towards the group in an attempt to ram them.

"Titan!" Naruto roared out as he quickly used his Evoker, "Kill Rush!"

Said Persona quickly appeared and gave Empress a massive punch to its face before spinning around and deliver another punch to the face that had launched the Shadow into Emperor.

**"****How dare you hit a regal woman such as I, you impudent brat!"** Empress roared out as she was struggling to get up.

"You're not exactly a 'woman' in my book," Naruto said as he was thinking of what to do next with what time he had, "nor are you the 'regal' type."

Making his decision, Naruto decided to go for a regular attack on Emperor…

_*klang!*_

The reverberation from the blond's katana hitting Emperor's armor had nearly caused the blade to shake itself free from Naruto's grip.

**"****You're pathetic little attack won't work on me!"** Emperor declared in confidence, **"No amount of your slashing, piercing, or even barbaric smashing could ever dent my armor!"**

**"****You idiot!"** Empress roared out in agitation while still trying to get up, **"You just blurted out what CAN hurt you!"**

** "****That's because with you at my side,"** Emperor said, still high on his pride, **"no manner of magic could ever hurt me!"**

"You mean magic like this?" Akihiko asked as he summoned Polydeuces, "Zio!"

Lightning formed on the tip of the giant needle on the Persona's arm before being launched in the form of a sparking ball of energy. The lightning ball zipped through the air before hitting Emperor, causing the Shadow to violently twitch around before falling on its back.

"Everyone!" Minato and Kotone called out simultaneously, "All-Out Attack!"

Without wasting a moment, the group jumped in to deal serious damage to the two giant Shadows with Junpei, Akihiko, and Naruto using their regular attacks on Empress while Minato and Kotone used their Personas' spiritual skills on the Emperor.

**"****Lowly knaves!"** Empress shouted as she and Emperor were able to get to their feet, winded but still standing strong, **"Take this! Paradigm Shift!"**

"Kill Rush!" Naruto roared out as Titan gave the feminine Shadow a punch to the face.

Seeing how the attack wasn't as strong as last time as Empress had only stumbled back a couple of feet before regaining its balance, Naruto quickly went on the defense as Titan ended up taking a back-handed hit to the face from the scepter.

"Gah!" Naruto grunted out as he soon held his jaw, "My jaw! Strike attacks aren't as affective now!"

Quickly turning to Fuuka, Kotone said, "Fuuka, we need you to scan Empress and find her weakness!"

"On it!" Fuuka said as she focused her attention on the feminine Shadow, "Just give me some time!"

"Zouchouten!" Minato called out as Orpheus soon vanished and was replaced by an armored warrior holding a charm in his hands, "Use Zio on Emperor!"

Zouchouten nodded as the thrusted an open palm out towards Emperor's direction.

**"****Not again!"** the Shadow cried out in panic, **"Paradigm Shift!"**

A bolt of lightning erupted from the Persona's palm and had struck the Shadow dead center of its body, but the force of the attack had only pushed Emperor back a few feet.

**"****Whew! Close one…"** Emperor said before realizing that there was still a battle going on, **"Uh I mean…Nice try, little squire!"**

Minato growled since he needed a way to find out the lanky Shadow's weakness and since Electricity was out, there were only three other elements left: Fire, Ice, and Wind. The bluenette also had a gut feeling that Light or Dark attacks wouldn't even hurt either Shadow one bit.

"Alright Hermes!" Junpei called out as his Persona bounced on his feet excitedly, "Let's Cleave that bitch in two!"

Getting the message, Hermes dashed towards Empress before going into a slide and slicing the Shadow's thin legs with his blades. The Persona quickly jumped to his feet and pumped a fist in victory that was short-lived when Empress quickly gave him a powerful slap to the face.

"Dammit!" Junpei said as his cheek was stinging, "We couldn't cut her down!"

"I found Empress's weakness!" Fuuka cried out, "She's weak to piercing attacks!"

After looking at each other, Naruto and Kotone swapped opponent as the young girl stabbed Empress with her naginata while the blond summoned Jinn before having his Persona send a spear of ice towards Emperor. Both spears had hit their targets and had enough force to knock them off their feet.

"Quick!" Kotone roared out as both giant Shadows were down once more, "All-Out Attack!"

Everyone quickly rushed in and began to pummel the two Shadows ruthlessly as dust and ichor were flying in the air.

Once the dust had settled, both Emperor and Empress were looking ragged and breathing heavily as they had recovered from the attack.

**"****You shall meet you end through the glory of Lord Death!"** Empress declared before her stance had faltered and she began to fall, **"But not…by…my hands…"**

The large Shadow disappeared in a mixture of black mist and dissolving ichor, leaving just Emperor left to face the wrath of SEES.

**"****Sister!"** the Shadow cried out after the mist and ichor vanished, **"Don't leave me; I can't face them by myself!"**

A powerful chill had suddenly knocked Emperor off of his feet, causing him to look as see each of his opponents had their Personas out.

"Just you and us now…" Naruto said as Jinn had his arms surrounded by wind and ice.

"This'll be fun!" Akihiko said as Polydeuces had electricity surrounding his lone hand.

"Your ass is grass!" Junpei chuckled as Hermes had flames in his hands.

Minato and Kotone remained silent as their respective Personas had their elemental attacks ready.

Seeing just how much trouble it was in, Emperor whimpered as he said, **"…mother…"**

The other girls had covered their eyes as the onslaught looked really nasty and once the dust settled, Emperor now had black mist and ichor dissolving from his body while his body was falling apart.

**"****Never thought…"** the dying Shadow weakly said as it tried to keep itself supported with its sword, **"…that one of Lord Death's aspects could be defeated…by a bunch of brats…"**

Taking a careful look at Naruto, Emperor chuckled as he then said, **"Now…Now I see just how I lost…Jin…churiki…"**

The giant Shadow finally vanished, but not without bringing up a defensive look on Naruto and some questions for some of the younger members of SEES.

"Are there any of them left?" Fuuka asked as Lucia vanished before seeing that everyone was safe, "They're gone…that's good."

Fuuka looked at SEES and chuckled as she then said, "Thank you for everything."

All of a sudden, the girl then began to fall down as Naruto quickly dashed towards Fuuka and caught her before she had hit the floor.

"Fuuka!" Natsuki cried out as she looked and the girl in Naruto's arms.

"It's alright," Mitsuru said as she was on her feet, holding her injured side, "she's only suffering from exhaustion; Fuuka Yamagishi will be alright."

"But what about her?" Yukari asked as she too was on her feet, holding her arm as it too had been injured, "She saw everything."

"She won't remember a thing," Mitsuru answered professionally, much to the shock of the SEES Rookies, "but after everything that has happened, I believe she had learned her lesson."

Yukari watched disappointedly as it just didn't seem fair that Natsuki will forget what had happened tonight, but her thoughts soon turned to what the Emperor had said before it had vanished.

_What's a jinchuriki?_

**Now that Fuuka has been rescued, how will SEES handle future battles now that they know that stronger Shadows come out during a full moon? What more will be discovered as Yukari ponders on what Emperor had said?**

**I know that the battle between Emperor and Empress wasn't as...much but if you had played either version of Persona 3 (regular, FES, or Portable) the battle with those two can actually be easy if properly prepared for them.**

**As for Naruto being affected by the full moon, you will see how each full moon would affect our favorite blond on the Full Moon Missions.**

**Don't forget to rate and review!**

**Ja ne.**


	10. Chapter 9

**This is Ryu Kotei apologizing for the very long wait as I haven't been able to do much writing since I got my job, but I will update any of my stories when I can and I may not be on Fanfiction as much.**

**On a final note, I do not own Naruto, any of the Persona Series, or Eye of the Tiger. They belong to their respective owners.**

"Persona!" normal speech

_"Persona!"_ thought/mind speak

**"Persona!"** demon/Shadow/Persona speech

Chapter IX

***Gekkoukan High***

Naruto was working on getting his desk in order as classes haven't started at the moment when his thoughts began to drift back on everything that had transpired in the past few days since they had rescued Fuuka.

She was admitted to the hospital once the Dark Hour has passed and when questioned on where she was, Mitsuru revealed that Fuuka was kidnapped by some random crook that was hoping to get rich quick with the young girl's family pooling in a lot of money due to their jobs as doctors. It was also at that time that Mitsuru had revealed Mr. Ekoda's little cover-up scheme and said teacher was under a lot of fire afterwards. The Kirijo woman quickly calmed the near riotous mob by saying that Mr. Ekoda WILL face punishment to the fullest extent as Gekkoukan will be searching for a new teacher for his replacement.

_Glad that bastard's not anywhere NEAR Gekkoukan,_ Naruto thought bitterly as he still wanted to hurt the now former high school teacher for his actions,_ at least there's some people who agree with me on that point._

The sound of a door sliding open alerted the blond to the now present Fuuka as she walked in the classroom, getting a few looks from some of the girls.

"Hey," one girl whispered to her friend, "it's the Ghost Girl!"

Naruto growled a bit before he saw Natsuki approached the now nervous Fuuka.

"Don't mind them." Natsuki said with a friendly smile, "You've been through enough already."

"Th-Thank you," Fuuka said as she was slightly nervous around the girl who had bullied her, "M-Moriyama-san."

"No problem," Natsuki said with a friendly smile on her face, "and please, call me Natsuki."

Naruto smiled at the new interaction between the two girls as even though his ex-girlfriend wouldn't remember Fuuka saving her, either that or think of what had happened during the Dark Hour as some incredibly lucid dream.

_Maybe things aren't going to be so bad for a while…_

Classes have ended as Naruto was heading towards the gym when one of the coaches approached him.

"Hey Naruto," said the coach, grabbing the blond's attention.

"What's up Coach?" Naruto answered as he noted that this was the coach for the track team, "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah," the coach answered regretfully, "it's Yuko. She got a little bit of food poisoning and wanted to see if you could cover for her temporarily."

"I told her not to eat Wild Duck's mystery burger." Naruto said with a shake of his head before he said, "Sure thing, I just need to let Coach Yashamaru know."

"I've already asked him and he's willing to let you cover for Yuko as long as you're alright with it." the coach said with a grateful smile, "Thanks!"

Once the coach left, Naruto quickly got his cellphone out and sent Mitsuru a text that he might be gone a little longer and he may not be able to make it to Tartarus if Minato and Kotone decide to go.

After sending the message, Naruto decided to go to the gym real quick to find that everyone wasn't wearing their gear.

"Good thing I caught you guys." Naruto called out as he got everyone's attention, "I want to let you know that I'll be covering for the manager of the track team today. You are all welcome to either go to the track field or just head on home as there will be no kendo practice today."

Some of the members smiled at bit as having no practice for the day sounded really nice while others gave the idea of checking out the track team for some extra training.

Once at the track field, Naruto looked over the track team to find Minato and one of the bluenette's classmates he would hang out with every now and then while also seeing that some of the kendo team had joined in.

"Where's Yuko?" Minato asked with a bored expression as some of the other track members were wondering the same thing.

"She couldn't make it as she had gotten sick," Naruto answered professionally as he had a clipboard in his hands, "but I was asked to cover for her and I agreed, so some of you may have noticed that some of the Kendo Club's members having joined me for the day to get some good exercise. Now I might do things a bit differently than Yuko would normally do, but we still cannot slack off; We will start off by doing some laps around the field to wake up some of our muscles that might have fallen asleep during classes."

A few chuckles was heard from the crowd before everyone started doing their laps around the field with Naruto joining them.

"Hey Naruto," Minato called out as he caught up with the blond, "Mitsuru-senpai told me that there's going to be a meeting at the dorm tonight."

"I already texted her that I might not be able to make it this evening since I decided to cover Yuko," Naruto said as he kept his pace, "I'll just asked Mitsuru what was covered so that I can know what was discussed."

Naruto then took a glance behind him to see Minato's classmate, Kazushi he believed, running a bit slower than normally. Yuko had told the blond about how Kaz would give 110% at each practice session and even train outside of club.

But that wasn't the case…

"S'up with Kaz?" Naruto asked Minato as he looked ahead to keep himself from running into something or tripping, "He seems kind of slower than normal."

"He's just having one of those off days." Minato answered as he and Naruto after the two of them rounded the bend, "You know how things can be with a highschooler's whacked-out schedule."

Naruto wanted to question further, but he dropped it for the moment as he never really spent as much time with Kaz as the bluenette had. He had no idea what Kaz's schedule was like save for school, club, and training.

But that didn't mean he wasn't concerned…

After clubs were finished, Naruto was in the shower washing the sweat and exhaustion from his body when his thoughts returned to Kaz. That boy was stubborn when it came to training and would give it everything he got, even when he wasn't supposed to.

"Just like Lee…" Naruto said to himself as memories of the taijutsu expert entered his mind as a feeling that Kaz and Lee would somehow become great friends due to their dedication to training…or their eccentric personalities.

The blond's thoughts soon drifted back to that fateful moment where his own life could have been ended. He knew that Lee and some of the others were not around due to either having missions outside of the village or still in the hospital, but Naruto still felt a little betrayed that they had never visited if they had returned from their missions.

Naruto shook his head to erase some of the depressing thoughts of his old home had he had to remind himself that Port Island was his new home now.

The sound of his cellphone going off had alerted Naruto of the time as the ringtone revealed that it was Mitsuru on the others side. Shutting off the water and wrapping a towel around his waist, Naruto stepped out to see that Mitsuru had texted him.

_The meeting will begin soon, you want us to wait for you? –Mitsuru—_

"That's odd…" Naruto thought as he studied the message, "Normally she'd just continue with the meeting if someone mentioned that they weren't going to make it."

The blond quickly sent a message to his cousin to have her continue the meeting without him as he decided a trip to Mandragora might do him some good.

But still…

"Might've been checking up on me…" Naruto then whispered to himself as he considered his condition, "…but I'll let her know I'm okay."

After sending Mitsuru another text saying that he was doing fine and that he'll be at the dorm a bit late, Naruto decided to dry himself off and get dressed before leaving the school.

***Dorm***

Mitsuru was in the meeting room when her phone rang. Looking at the screen, the woman saw that Naruto had texted her back twice as the messages read:

_Go ahead and start without me. I'm alright, just going to take a small detour. –Naruto-_

_I'll be coming to the dorm late. Just need to clear my head. –Naruto-_

"He must be going to Mandragora again…" Mitsuru said with a slight sigh in her voice, "I don't know whether I should be mad at him for shirking an important meeting like this…or postpone the meeting and rush to see if Naruto _is_ fine like he says."

"Don't be so hard on your cousin," Ikutsuki said as he took a sip of his tea, "People with PTSD lead much more difficult lives than a normal person would due to their condition, even with routines that they have that helps them cope. Anything that could set them off would create more trouble for those suffering with PTSD as their condition can become more erratic and out of control."

"I know, Mr. Chairman," Mitsuru said as she looked off to the side as she squeezed her own arm in an attempt to ease her own worries, "but Naruto is my responsibility as Father and I are his closest family now. He never had a mother or a father to help guide him or even love him…"

"So it falls onto you and your father to fill in the missing pieces since he doesn't really know his real parents." Akihiko said he saw the uncomfortable and distant look on Mitsuru's face, "That's the Uzumaki Creed, isn't it; Family above everything else."

Silence echoed in the room and it was that silence that had given the boxer what he needed.

"I know Naruto rarely talks about his past life," Akihiko then said as he leaned back on the sofa, not removing his eyes from Mitsuru, "but he'll eventually _have_ to tell everyone the entire story; I don't even know myself as the only ones who do know the full truth about Naruto's past are you, your father, and Shinji."

"Now I do recall Ms. Shione and Junpei mentioning Naruto revealing a little bit of his past to them," Ikutsuki said with a calm tone in his voice, "and while it wasn't as much as what Mitsuru and Shinjiro might know, it still says a lot about how willing Naruto is when opening to others about his past. I'd say that's good progress!"

While the trio continued to talk amongst each other, Fuuka couldn't help but wonder more about Naruto now. As far as she could have seen, the young girl had never seen the slightest sign of PTSD in Naruto or even knew about the many secrets and mysteries behind the blond.

If asked, Fuuka would admit that a part of her _is_ wary of the blond due to what she had learned, but she would mostly say that she is actually more curious about Naruto than cautious. Her reason for being curious is mostly to try and help and be closer to Naruto as her imagination could make so many scenarios about the blond's past life: Was he a really bad delinquent that wanted to change his ways? Did he run away from a neglected home? Was he born outside of Japan?

_Whoever you are Naruto-kun,_ Fuuka thought to herself as the other members of SEES entered the room and took a seat around the table, _I want you to know that I'm here for you should you ever need me._

***Mandragora***

Naruto was sitting at one of the tables when he suddenly sneezed.

"Wonder who's talking about me?" the blond asked himself as he took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his nose real quick before returning the cloth into his pocket.

After hearing his name being called, Naruto walked up the stage after quickly selecting a song.

_This one's for you Lee…_Naruto thought as he tightly gripped the microphone as the music began to build with crashes from an all too familiar tune.

**_Risin' up,_**

**_Back on the street!_**

**_Did my time,_**

**_Took my chances!_**

**_Went the distance,_**

**_Now I'm back on my feet!_**

**_Just a man,_**

**_And his will to survive!_**

**_So many times,_**

**_It happens too fast!_**

**_You trade your passion for glory._**

**_Don't lose your grip,_**

**_On the dreams of the past!_**

**_You must fight,_**

**_Just to keep them alive!_**

**_It's the,_**

**_Eye of the Tiger!_**

**_It's the thrill of the fight!_**

**_Risin' up,_**

**_To the challenge of our rival!_**

**_And the last know survivor,_**

**_Stalks his prey in the night!_**

**_And he's watching us all with the eye…_**

**_…_****_of the tiger._**

**_Face to face,_**

**_Out in the heat._**

**_Hanging tough,_**

**_Staying hungry…_**

**_They stack the odds,_**

**_Till we take to the street._**

**_For the kill,_**

**_With the skill,_**

**_To survive!_**

**_It's the,_**

**_Eye of the Tiger!_**

**_It's the thrill of the fight!_**

**_Risin' up,_**

**_To the challenge of our rival!_**

**_And the last known survivor,_**

**_Stalks his prey in the night,_**

**_And he's watching us all with the eye…_**

**_…_****_of the tiger!_**

Seeing how amped up the crowd was as they clapped their hands to the rhythm of the song, Naruto looked at them and said, "How about you guys help me with this last part seeing how all of you seem to know it! Just follow my lead!"

**_Risin' up,_**

**_Straight to the top!_**

**_Had the guts,_**

**_Got the glory!_**

**_Went the distance,_**

**_Now I'm not gonna to stop!_**

**_Just a man,_**

**_And his will,_**

**_To survive!_**

**_It's the…_**

**_(Crowd): Eye of the Tiger!_**

**_It's the thrill of the fight!_**

**_Rising up,_**

**_To the challenge of our rival!_**

**_And the last known survivor,_**

**_Stalks his prey in the night!_**

**_And he's watching us all with the eye…_**

**_…_****_of the tiger!_**

The crowd roared wildly as Naruto spun the mike in his hands as he decided to replace the final lyrics with one last reprise…

**_It's the,_**

**_Eye of the Tiger!_**

**_It's the thrill of the fight!_**

**_Risin' up,_**

**_To the challenge of our rival!_**

**_And the last known survivor,_**

**_Stalks his prey in the night!_**

**_And he's watching us all with the eye…_**

**_…_****_of the tiger!_**

The music slowly ended as everyone in the place began to cheer wildly while Naruto took a quick bow before placing the microphone back on its stand.

As he returned to his seat, Naruto saw that a new, well-dressed woman was sitting next to his seat.

"You're pretty good kid," the woman said with a smirk on her face, "especially with how you got the crowd going; Pretty rare sight to see in my books."

"Thanks." Naruto said as he took his seat before taking a drink from the water bottle he had, "I'm Naruto Namikaze."

"Maelstrom…" the woman said with a slight chuckle in her voice, "…now that's the name of a singer."

The woman reached in her jacket and pulled out a card before handing it to the blond before her as she said, "My card; I'm Melody Utahime, CEO of Songbird Records."

"Don't think I've heard of you honestly…" Naruto admitted as a small bird was in the center of a ring of music notes that it was singing on the card, "So what does a upstarting record company want with a high schooler like me?"

"Well…" Melody began as music continued to pulse through the area, "I was actually here to investigate a little rumor I heard about someone with a voice that could actually affect others. I've seen many people perform on that stage, but I've yet to find my Excalibur. One blue-haired boy did come close, but he doesn't reach out to the soul like you do, Naruto-san."

With a slightly embarrassed chuckle, Naruto scratched the back of his head as he said, "I was just venting some of those times due to my…condition."

"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder." Melody said with a slight shocked on the blond's face, "I can see it in your eyes as my grandfather had that look many times. I do wonder how someone so young like yourself could have such a condition and I could only guess just HOW you got it in the first place."

"I'd rather not talk about it…" Naruto admitted as he tensed up defensively, "…if you don't mind."

"Fair enough." the woman said as she got up from the table, "I believed I stayed here long enough, but should you decide to be the latest music sensation, give me a call. I'll be scouting you later."

Melody professionally left the area, leaving Naruto to his own thoughts as he examined the card in his hands.

_A music company's interested in me?_ Naruto thought as he looked to see a young girl perform a song quite beautifully even with a few out of pitch moments, _Haven't felt this much attention since…_

With a quick shake of his head to rid of the upcoming memories, Naruto looked around to see some of the people stealing anxious glances towards him…silently giving him a signal.

_One more song should ease them,_ the blond thought with a shrug of his shoulders, _and besides, I don't think I'm missing much anyway back at the dorm._

***Dorm***

Everyone had given their support to their latest member of SEES, Fuuka Yamagishi, as Ikutsuki then said, "Now that we've gotten matters settled…"

"Actually…" Yukari said as everyone looked at her with a look of confusion and expectation, "I would like to ask a question: What's a jinchuriki?"

The chairman's eyebrows suddenly rose in surprise as he asked, "Where did you hear that?"

Slightly nervous at the chairman's reaction, Yukari then said, "I heard it from one of the Shadows we had fought…one of _them_ actually. Do you know what it means, Ikutsuki-san?"

Ikutsuki remained silent for a moment before he got up and walked towards the giant bookshelf in the room.

"Jinchuriki, or 'Power of Human Sacrifice', is actually a title given to a person for that just reason," Ikutsuki said as he skimmed through some of the exposed spines on the shelf, "Human Sacrifice."

"You mean like the Aztecs?" Minato asked with a raised eyebrow while a few of the others slightly paled at the idea of human sacrifice.

"If you look at it like that, then yes." Ikutsuki said as he found the book he was searching for before returning to the group while flipping through the pages, "Some ancient cultures had practiced the art of sacrificing other living creatures in order to please their gods, with the Aztecs being the most well-known for their sacrificial rituals."

The chairman placed the book on the table with it opened to reveal pictures of some demonic creature trapped inside of a person as Ikutsuki continued, "In some myths and old records from another country similar to our own, a jichuriki is actually a person that has a powerful creature sealed inside of them. That person is either seen as a savior, a weapon, or even the very demon that they have inside of them."

"But why would they look at a person like that?" Kotone asked, slightly frightened at the possibility of an actual demon being sealed inside of a person, "I mean, that person is still the same person…right?"

"Be as it may be…" the chairman said as he leaned back in his chair, "…that's not the case with some who bare this cursed title. These are people from a culture similar to our own, but most are stuck to old ideals that they pass down to their generation for prejudice reasons: Fear and Hatred. Perhaps they had lost someone they once held close or even feared for not only their own lives, but the lives of others if there was an actual demon walking around."

"But that's not right!" Junpei said with anger in his voice, "People should believe what they want to believe about others and not fall for such bullshit!"

Letting out a sigh, Ikutsuki then said, "While I do agree with you, Junpei, but sometimes what others say _are_ indeed true while most times people just judge others into different bias categories; A threatening biker could never be an elementary school teacher because he wears leather and drives a motorcycle, nor could a sweet and innocent little girl could ever be deathly cruel to animals and to others. We always judge by what we either see or hear first before trying to learn more about the person."

Junpei quietly took his seat as he was still fuming a little about how people could treat others…but then again, who was he to judge as he was pretty sure he had some bias ideas of his own.

"I believe now would be appropriate to wrap this meeting up as Kichi must be getting impatient for her nightly walk." Ikutsuki said with a slight smile on his face, "I'd walk her myself, but she's not really that fond of me for some reason."

"I can do it," Fuuka said with a slight smile on her face, "and if I see Naruto-kun, I'll let him know what the meeting was about."

"Knowing him, he'll probably want Fuuka to go through a special initiation considering her Persona's ability." Akihiko said with a slight smirk on his face, "That means more training for me."

Mitsuru let out a sigh as the said, "Akihiko…"

Night had fallen as Naruto entered the dorm with everyone waiting for him.

"What's up?" Naruto asked as he saw the calculating look on Mitsuru's face, "Sorry if I skipped the meeting, but I needed to take care of a few things."

"It's cool," Akihiko said with a confident smirk, "We were actually waiting for you to arrive so we can help the new person get an understanding of what SEES does."

"We got a new person joining us? Cool!" Naruto said as he took a sip of his water.

The door behind Naruto opened to reveal Fuuka holding a leash that was connected to a collar Kichi was wearing.

"Greetings, Naruto-kun!" Fuuka said as she kneeled to remove the collar around Kichi's neck, "I guess they already told you that I've joined SEES beginning tonight."

The blond suddenly done a spit take and went into a coughing fit before he looked at the group and said, "SERIOUSLY!? FUUKA-CHAN'S JOINING SEES!?"

"Her abilities of observation and recon are actually far more superior than mine," Mitsuru said with a professional stance and voice, "She would be very helpful to the team."

Carefully approaching the distressed blond, Fuuka gently placed a delicate hand on Naruto's shoulder and said, "It's alright, Naruto-kun, I agreed to join as I'm doing this to repay everyone for saving me that night."

Naruto remained silent as he was still in a state of conflict before Kichi walked up to him and said, "She told me everything when she took me for my walk; She's doing this because she wants to thank everyone for that night…especially you since you since you were the first she met that night. Might as well accept it as there might be more benefits for you."

The blond fought his blush at what the vixen was implying as he then said, "Meet up on the roof at midnight…I…I need to try to relax."

Everyone nodded before heading off on their own direction to take care of their own needs while Naruto climbed the stairs and headed towards his room with Kichi following him as a thought was running though his mind.

_What the hell just happened?_

11:59.57

11:59.58

11:59.59

12:00.00

**[Dark Hour]**

Everyone was on the roof with the SEES Rookies standing before the three founding members while Fuuka and Kichi were standing on the sidelines.

"Alright!" Naruto said as everyone, save for Fuuka, had foam weapons that dripped with pain, "For Fuuka-chan's initiation, she's going to help you four in this simulation as your opponents will be us."

"Seriously?" Junpei asked in complete shock at the idea of going up against SEES founders, "We're going up against YOU GUYS!?"

"Yes." Mitsuru said as she used her free hand to move some of her hair that got into her face behind her ear, "That night when Takeba and I were attacked had revealed to me that I haven't been keeping my other skills up as much; Penthesilea is more suited for combat than support like Yamagishi's Persona, Lucia."

Naruto chuckled a bit as he then said, "While my cousin is right about slacking off on Penthesilea's more combative skills, you should still never underestimate your opponent. After all…you _are_ going up against three of the founding members of SEES; We're not going to be holding back."

At that moment, Akihiko rushed in with the initiative, surprising all but Naruto, Kichi, and Mitsuru with his suddenness, and gave Junpei a punch to the center of his chest. The attack had knocked Junpei down with a huge red blot on his chest as the others quickly jumped away into a defensive stance.

"What the hell man?!" Junpei said as he was trying to get to his feet, "We didn't even start yet!"

The young teen then saw Akihiko going in for another attack and dodged just in time to evade the attack. Yukari quickly took aim at the boxer and launched the suction dart, but missed as Mitsuru had hit her arm with her foam sword.

"Be aware of your surroundings, Takeba!" Mitsuru said as she began a flurry of attack that Yukari was barely dodging, "Remember that Akihiko isn't your only opponent!"

Minato and Kotone were about to jump in and help their friends, but they had to jump back to avoid and attack from Naruto before seeing the blond taking a battle stance before them.

"Hope you both have been keeping up with whom you're going up against!" Naruto said as he pulled out his Evoker, "Titan! Kill Rush!"

"Orpheus!" Minato cried out as he pulled out his own Evoker, "Block it!"

Both Evokers had gone off at the same time before Titan appeared and was about to strike Minato with his fist until Orpheus appeared and blocked the assault with his lute.

"Siren!" Kotone said as she pulled out her Evoker, "Bufu!"

As a shot rang out, Siren appeared and launched her ice attack in the form of music notes and made their mark as Titan flinched from the attack while Naruto was suddenly pushed back with frost in his hair.

"Not bad…" Naruto said with a devilish smirk on his face, "…but unfortunately that only tickled! Phoenix!"

Another shot rang out as Titan was soon replaced with said Persona before Naruto called out, "Agilao!"

The fiery bird waved its large wings as a large fireball was hurled towards Siren and struck the songstress in a painful blaze that knocked Kotone flat onto her back.

Naruto was about to go into a follow-up attack, but was quickly intercepted when Minato had switched his Persona and launched an electrical attack that the blond wasn't expecting.

"Gyah!" Naruto cried out as he fell hard on the roof as his body was reacting to the surge of electricity, his scar throbbing like a beating heart.

"Thanks." Kotone said after being helped onto her feet by Minato, "We need to help the others while Naruto's down."

"I know how." the bluenette said as he saw Yukari and Junpei struggle against their two senpais.

Getting the message, Kotone pulled out her Evoker as Minato's Persona was switched back to Orpheus before the duo cried out, "Battle Concerto!"

As Orpheus and Siren started their combo, a rush of energy flowed through each of the Rookies' bodies and gave them new found strength.

"Alright!" Junpei cheered with a pump of his fist, "Now we're talking!"

It wasn't too long before Akihiko was having difficulties reading the hat-wearing teen's movements as Junpei had quickly rushed towards him and was swinging with insane vigor. Mitsuru was also having trouble as Yukari was firing suction darts with blinding speed and didn't even showed any signs of fatigue.

"Akihiko!" Mitsuru said as she just barely dodged a dart aimed at her arm, "Switch with me!"

With a silent nod, Akihiko grabbed his teammate's hand and pulled her towards Junpei before dashing towards Yukari, dodging arrows along the way.

"Fuuka!" Minato called out towards said girl, "I need you to scan Naruto for anything we need to watch out for!"

Taken by surprise as she was distracted with everything going on around her, Fuuka nodded as she said, "G-got it…"

The young girl focused her mind and set her sights on Naruto as Lucia soon appeared over her and Kichi.

"It might take a moment," Fuuka said with slight hesitance in her voice, "but once I get the information, I'll pass it on to everyone on your team."

Seeing that Naruto wasn't getting up at the moment, both Minato and Kotone decided to charge towards Mitsuru and Akihiko in order to aide their teammates.

"What can you reveal to me, Lucia?" Fuuka asked as she saw the archaic symbols surrounding the fallen blond, "Show me what you see."

The symbols were slowly translating themselves before her eyes as she read each one allowed, "Phoenix…It's of the Sun Arcana…Strong against Fire…Wind…and Light…It knows Agilao…Maragi…Magaru…Dia…Hama...and Recarm…It's weaknesses…are Ice…and…Electricity."

**"****That is all I can see."** Lucia said as her voice echoed in Fuuka's mind, **"His skills are quite appropriate for having a bird that reincarnates itself into a new form."**

"Thank you." Fuuka said with a soft smile on her face before looking towards the others, "Naruto's weak to Ice and Electricity!"

"Gah!" Junpei said as he suddenly clutched his head, "Easy with the shouting!"

"S-sorry!" Fuuka said as she realized that her voice have entered the minds of the Rookies, "A-anyway, you also must watch as Phoenix possessing healing skills and attacks that targets multiple enemies!"

"Right!" Kotone said as she suddenly felt herself slowing down, "Battle Concerto must be wearing off!"

"I can feel it too…" Yukari added as her arms began to tingle, "My arms are starting to lose feeling."

"Shit!" Junpei said as he just barely avoided an attack from Mitsuru until he noticed Naruto getting up onto his feet, "We need something and fast; Naruto's back on his feet!"

"Kotone!" Minato called out as he drew his Evoker out after dodging a few attacks from Akihiko, "Let's try one of the new combos!"

"Right!" Kotone said as she pulled out her own Evoker while seeing that all three of their founders had summoned their Personas at the same time, "Jack Frost!"

_*BANG! shatter!*_

"Pyro Jack!"

_*BANG! shatter!*_

"Jack Brothers!" Minato and Kotone cried out at the same time as a fairy in the form of a little snowman and a fairy with a Jack-o-lantern for a head appeared…each with a microphone in their hands and a spotlight on them.

**"****Hey Bro-hoo!"** said the snow fairy as his smile never left his face.

**"****What's up?"** said the pumpkin-headed fairy.

**"****I just got a new-hee dog yesterday!"**

** "****What's its name-ho?"**

** "****HACHIKO!"**

**"****Bless you."**

Everyone stared at the two fairies after their poor attempt at a joke with deadpanned looks until Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Naruto face faulted with their respective Personas following suit.

"What…" Yukari asked as she wasn't sure if she should be surprised that the founders had fallen due to the lame joke or just embarrassed by the lame joke done by the two fairies, "…was that?"

"Anyway…" Junpei said as the awkward tension was still in the air, "…All-Out Attack?"

Fuuka watched as Minato's team took advantage of the situation while trying to figure out just how Naruto's team fell as she said, "I don't get it…"

"Neither do I." Kichi added, even though she knew that the girl couldn't understand her, "It wasn't even THAT funny…"

When the dust had settled, the founders managed to get back on their feet and returned to their assault.

"Good job at taking advantage of that!" Naruto said as Phoenix was soon switched with Jinn.

"But you're going to have to do better than that!" Akihiko said as his Persona launched an electrical attack towards the entire team, "Mazio!"

Unable to avoid the attack, each of the Rookies felt an electrical shock run through their bodies while Yukari was knocked down from the attack.

"Yukari!" Junpei said, summoning Hermes with a quick shot of his Evoker, was about to go help his fallen teammate until he saw that Mitsuru was right in front of him.

"Penthesilea!" Mitsuru said as she had her Evoker out and aimed at her head, "Marin Karin!"

_*BANG! shatter!*_

As the shot rang out, Penthesilea soon appeared and seductively walked towards Hermes.

**"****Why fight for them…"** Penthesilea asked as she seductively caressed Hermes's face, **"…when you can fight for my affection?"**

A bright blush appeared on not only Hermes's face, but Junpei's as well before said duo turned towards their teammates…ready to fight THEM!

"J-Junpei!" Kotone said as she barely dodged an unexpected attack from her own teammate, "What's wrong with you!? We're on the same team!"

"Be careful!" Fuuka called out as a new archaic symbol had translated itself before her, "Junpei-kun's been charmed; He's not thinking straight!"

Minato quickly shielded Kotone from a fire attack that Hermes had launched as he then said, "Snap out of it, Junpei! Think of what you're doing!"

"Oh I know what I'm doing…" Junpei said with a dreamy look on his face, "I'm fighting…for MY QUEEN!"

The teen then jumped towards the fallen Yukari and was about to slash at her, but missed as the girl in pink rolled away just in time for paint to be splattered where she was just momentarily.

"What the hell, Stupei!?" Yukari growled out as she pointed towards the founders, "Aim THAT way; aim for THEM, not us!"

"You need to snap Junpei out of his charmed state if you want him to listen!" Naruto said as he rushed towards Minato with Jinn getting an ice attack ready, "Allies who are charmed will help their enemies by either attacking you or healing them instead of the other way around!"

Seeing Jinn launching his attack, Minato jumped away in time for the large icicle to miss him…only to realize that he had just jumped into another icicle that he hadn't seen.

"Gah!" Minato cried out as he was now covered in ice and on the ground, becoming a frozen statue.

"Minato!" Yukari said as she managed to get on her feet just in time to dodge an attack from Mitsuru, "Io! Media!"

A shot echoed through the sky as Io soon appeared with her palms shining. After Io had let out a small light from her hands, both Yukari and Kotone saw that they had regained some of their strength…but they were still outnumbered four to two.

"Gonna have to do this one on my own!" Kotone said with a serious tone as she pointed her Evoker to her head, "Angel! Archangel! Justice!"

_*BANG! shatter!*_

The shot echoed through the night as a winged woman with blond hair and had only black belts covering only small portions of her body appeared while a winged man wearing armor and wielding a sword appeared at the woman's side.

"What the-!" Akihiko said in absolute shock while Naruto and Mitsuru both were in a defensive position, "She can use more than one at the same time!?"

**"****Thou shall face the judgement of our King's light!"** both of Kotone's Persona said as a blinding light soon covered the three founders of SEES.

The light soon flashed before fading to reveal both Akihiko and Mitsuru kneeling on the ground and both were heavily winded.

"Damn…" Akihiko muttered as he struggled to keep himself steady on his knee, "Who knew that Kotone could be _that_ powerful!"

"I know…" Mitsuru said as she was using her weapon for support, "Perhaps Arisato and Namikaze are just as powerful."

The sound of struggling soon alerted everyone to a scene that had deeply disturbed them.

"Wha…What happened?" Junpei said as his head had cleared itself before looking where everyone had their attention, "What's goooiiinnn-HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!"

Everyone looked to find Naruto with his arms and legs spread out and bound by Angel's belts while Archangel slowly approached him…sword gleaming in a dark manner.

**"****Time to end thy life…"** Archangel said with a stern look on his face as he kept his focus on the bound blond before him, **"…demon."**

**What's going to happen now? and should he make it out alive, what will Naruto think of Melody's offer? Don't forget to rate and review!**

**Ja ne.**


End file.
